Fire Emblem: The Bond of Brothers
by Never An Honest Word
Summary: A brotherly bond is something that can take much but never break. As six sworn brothers somehow wind up in the world of Fire Emblem: Awakening, they must discover the true depth of their bond, and if it can withstand the test of time and the stress of a war. Can their bond also withstand true love? Various pairings, a third genre could possibly be friendship. T for language.
1. Prologue Part 1: Where Am I?

HEY YOU GUYS! Welcome everyone, it's me, Never An Honest Word here with a new fanfiction of one of my favourite games of all time—Fire Emblem Awakening! This is co-written by my best friend CJ as well as a few of my friends who would prefer to remain anonymous, but told me I can use their nicknames: First off, Butter Lord! Followed by Fluffy, the Canadian, and last but definitely not least, the Captain! Oh, and Taylor—he's letting me use his name. These dudes are all great friends of mine and they all have earned special places in my heart—they're my sworn brothers. Anyway, there are going to be various pairings in this story, primarily OC/Cordelia and Chrom/Sumia—those are just going to be the main ones that are focused on in the story, though other pairings are going to be shown but not primary. Anyways… I hopes y'all enjoy!

_Daniel's POV_

Hey everyone, what's up? How are you all doing? I'm pretty good, just, you know…

In the middle of a freaking FIELD! With a guy in full armour with a lance—like an actual LANCE—pressed up against my throat!

I seriously have no clue how any of this happened… I mean, today was barely unusual: Me and my good buddies were performing onstage at our town's 4th of July Freedom Fest like we have for the past three years. We were performing a cover "Everlong" as made famous by one of the greats: Foo Fighters.

The band consists of me doing vocals and playing electric guitar—something I've been doing since I was 9—with Jordan and CJ backing me up on vocals; Adam plays the bass, while Jerome and Mitch both play drums—they're extremely good as a duo—and finally Taylor playing the keyboard/synthesizer.

That reminds me, I haven't even told you about myself: My name is Daniel—call me Danny—Maron—affectionately referred to by some of the girls at my school as "Angel of Hotness." I'm naturally tan—very different from the people where I live… or lived, which is Washington State—with long black hair that is very similar to that of Neji Hyuga's, and I have soft gray eyes. I'm about 6' 3" tall and I've got a medium build, not large but not skinny; I'm average, I'd have to say. I'm eighteen years old and I… I have narcolepsy, although it's slightly in control due to the fact that CJ, my best friend, always wakes me up when I'm starting to doze off by flicking me on the nose.

Anyway, as I was saying, we were playing "Everlong" in front of most of our town's populace, which is about 2000, as well as a few out of towners. The spotlights shown on the stage with white hot intensity as I strummed out the opening riff of the song, while Jordan added in his own little rap to the song, which was literally just the refrain:

_And I wonder, _

_When I sing along with ya,_

_Is everything gonna be this real foreva? _

_Will anything ever be this good again?_

_The only thing I'll ever ask of ya,_

_Ya gotta promise not to stop when I say when!_

Everyone in the crowd was cheering for us, to the point where I could barely hear Adam joining in on the bass, signaling for me to start playing louder, which I did. Mitch and Jerome started in on their cymbals and I started strumming harder. I grinned and called into the microphone, "Thank y'all, Abbot!" making several girls in the audience cheer as I winked in their direction. I winked toward Jordan and mouthed, "THAT'S how ya get the girls, bro." to which he replied, "Show off."

(A/N: BOLD- Danny, CJ and Jordan. Normal- Danny. Half- CJ and Jordan.)

_**Hello, I've waited here for you… Everlong,**_

_Tonight, I'll throw myself into…_

_**And out of the red,**__ outta my head she sang…_

_Come down, and waste away with me…_

_**Down with me…**_

_**Slow how**__ you wanted it to be…_

_**I'm over my head, out of her head she sang!**_

I started on a much louder riff while Jerome and Mitch were pounding away on their drums; Mitch, as usual, lost his shirt somehow, showing off his toned body, making a few girls shriek and swoon, while Jerome was just nodding his head heavily and pounding on the bass drum and tom drum. Adam was just strumming away, shaking his head repeatedly, causing his long hair—not near as long as mine, mind you—to shake wildly, and Taylor's adding in his own synthesized rhythm to the song, which actually kind of sounds like a mix-in of the Dubstep song "Dance of the Pixies" by Machinimasound—although despite sounding weird, it doesn't actually sound bad at all.

Then I felt a strong blow to the head; my vision began to fade somewhat, but I was determined not to go down. I don't know what hit me, but I wouldn't let it stop me; I then heard a thud and the immediate stopping of the bass as I saw Adam, wild brown hair and all, hit the floor, apparently unconscious. I was unable to sing; in fact, part of me wanted to scream as I repeatedly felt heavy strikes to my body—I had to drop my guitar. Then I saw CJ fall to his knees and clutch his head, and I tried to rush over to Adam and CJ, but I couldn't move. A collective gasp ran through the crowd as people started to run up to the stage; my younger sister Allie was the first to reach me; Allie is seven and has my long black hair and gray eyes.

She looked at me with her young, innocent eyes and said, "Big brother, what's wrong?"

It broke my heart that I couldn't answer her, because she is my everything. Jordan collapsed shortly after and Mitch and Jerome were attempting to get to Taylor, who was slumped over his keyboard. Jerome was able to get the farthest, despite being immensely slowed down for some reason, and was able to reach Taylor, but collapsed. Mitch dropped about halfway there, and as I watched my bandmates fall before my eyes, I wanted to scream, to let out my fear and rage and scream my throat raw. But I couldn't.

I couldn't even move, all I could do is hear Allie's fearful cries before I finally blacked out, still clutching my necklace, which was a gift from Allie when we went on vacation to Barbados with our parents. It has a picture in it of the two of us on a beach, walking through the waves with me giving her a piggyback ride. We're both smiling and laughing; it is one of the best moments of my life so far.

And then, my vision faded.

For what felt like several hours, I sat floating in a colourless void, hearing my friends talking to me. The voices are mostly fuzzy, but I can catch snippets, mostly "Where am I" and "The hell is this place"—the latter surely coming from Mitch.

Then I heard one voice rise above the others: It's a male's, and he cried "This time, it ends, Validar!" I opened my eyes and I was in a darkened room, standing beside a guy who's about my age, give or take a few years, with purple hair. He's got dark brown eyes and he wears a black vest with a silvery cape, shoulder pads and black pants. He carries a sword at his waist and he has a grim look on his face; he turns to me and says quietly, "It's time to end this, Danny… we must finish him, for the sake of the world… and we must do this as sworn brothers!" He draws his sword; it's a silvery longsword with a polished blade and a black hilt. There's a spot in the middle that is shaped like a flame or a teardrop, whichever floats your boat.

I looked at myself: I was wearing the same clothes I was at the concert—a plain black t-shirt with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles—the ones from the 80's, that is—seemingly jumping out, with their respective weapons in hand, as well as blue jeans—with the exception of a chestplate, possibly bronze, I'm not sure, and combat boots, and I also carry a bronze longsword at my side, with an inscription on it; it's in Sindarin, the language of the Elves. It reads: _Luthien_. My Sindarin is a bit rusty, so I don't know what it means, though the word carries a great significance to my "dream" self, as I've began to refer to myself in this trance-like state. The sword also had a blue shimmering aura exuding from it, and I carried a white and yellow book.

I had no idea what this man was talking about, but then I looked across the room and saw a man in dark robes with ashen skin and flaming red hair. He had an evil grin on his face, and he laughed. "Well well well, Prince Chrom, Daniel… what a shock seeing you here."

"Enough with the talk, Validar!" the man now called Chrom cried. "For the sake of the future, you must die here!"

"Hmm… you believe you can destroy me, do you?" Validar said with a evil smirk. "Then try your best, but know you shall fail!"

"Danny, have my back!" Chrom cried, surging toward Validar quickly, holding his sword behind him. As he stepped toward Validar and slashed, the seemingly unarmed man merely side-stepped. Something came over me as I calmly stepped toward Validar and raised my right hand toward him—I mentally gasped, noticing a marking on my hand: It was a magenta colored U–shaped mark with six eyes on it, three on each side before the mark spiraled down and got smaller Then I speak, "_Bāsutoshainingu_!"

"Wha…" Validar began, eyes widening as a bolt of lightning surged from my hand, streaking and speeding toward him, striking him in the chest and knocking him into the base of a statue of a dragon. He groaned in pain, but then staggered back up, still with the smirk on his face. He too raised his hand as well as a black book, and growled, "_Burakkusutakurasshu_!"

A dark cloud rose up and loomed over us menacingly; I heard a low-pitched humming and saw a beam charging up from inside the cloud. "Chrom!" I cried, noticing that it was aimed directly for him. The purple-haired man turned and looked inquiringly at me and just as the beam flew forth from the cloud, I leapt and knocked him out of the way, taking the beam to the stomach. I cried out and held my belly in pain, and, looking down, I saw a bloody hole in the side of my stomach.

Though small, it was bleeding heavily and I felt a great deal of pain from it. I staggered to stand up, but was only able to make it to one knee before Validar roughly gripped my throat and picked me up off the ground. "You should've joined me while you had the chance, boy," he snarled, slamming me into a wall. "Now, you shall perish." He was so close to me that I could smell his rancid breath and hear his breathing.

I closed my eyes waiting for death, but then I heard Validar's breathing falter. A gasp came from him as he dropped me and I slumped against the wall, and he looked down: Chrom's sword was piercing his chest. "W-what is this…?!" he stuttered, blood gathering at the corner of his mouth.

Chrom withdrew his sword and ran to my side, grabbing my shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"I-I'll be fine," I said, breathing heavily as he helped me to my feet. "…But now, I must finish this!"

Validar, who at the moment was still standing, raised his book once more and stalked toward us, but I roared, holding my book, "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" I held my marked hand high, and bellowed, "_CHOSHINSEI_!"

"No…!" Validar hissed, and I could see the fear in his eyes. An orb of light materialized in the middle of the book and drew in some light rays from the area, before shooting out a burst of energy and crashing into Validar's chest, knocking him THROUGH a wall. There was no mistaking his death.

Chrom turned and smiled a bit at me. "We've done it, brother," he said, placing his hand on my shoulder. "We've saved the future… now the children—"

My vision had become red and I heard Validar's voice repeating in my head, getting louder and more forceful each time, "Kill him! Kill him, boy!"

Chrom gasped and looked down; a blade of lightning had pierced his chest, and I saw my hand crackling with a few stray sparks. He looked at me and we heard Validar's laugh echoing through the room, and he whispered, "It's… not your…fault…" and fell dead to the floor.

And that brings us to where I am now; I'll start from where I woke up.

I awaken in a field covered in tall grass and trees. There are a few hills here and there, but mostly it's just plain, flat tall grass. A pleasant breeze whispers across the plain, making the grass wave gently.

"CJ?!" I yell out, looking for my best friend. I frantically look around, trying to find any sign of him or any of my friends, and then I see a guy lying face-down. He's got short-ish black hair and he's wearing a black t-shirt and jeans, just like Jordan was wearing. "Jordan?" I yell, rushing over to him. I flip him over and he groans slightly.

"…No thanks, I'm having pancakes for dinner…" he yawns, rolling back over.

"Damn it Jordan…" I sigh, and then I realize that I have a small knife attached to my hip, and I unsheathe it, examining it: It's got the same mark as I saw on Chrom's sword in my dream. "Want some pancakes?" I ask his sleeping form.

He bolts right up. "Pancakes?!"

"No pancakes," I say, smiling slightly. "Just needed to wake you up."

"I hate you, Danny," Jordan groans. He looks around with a bewildered look on his face. "Where the hell are we? …And where'd you get that backpack?"

"I have no clue where we are," I say with a small sigh, then I add, "what backpack?"

"The one on your back, stupid."

I reach my hands around and sure enough, there's a backpack there. I pull it off and it's a red and blue Nike knapsack. I pull it open and inside is a small pouch with some gold, a Sindarin dictionary—why the hell is that in there?—as well as a Gameboy Color with a copy of Pokémon Yellow—okay, seriously?—and… a bottle of Mountain Dew?

"Why do you have a Gameboy?" Jordan asks, walking over and snatching it. "I thought you hated Nintendo. And seriously? Pokémon Yellow? You could've at least picked a good game to get lost with…"

"I didn't even have the backpack until now!" I protest, to which Jordan begins to laugh a little.

"Relax, Danny, I was just messing with you… wait, what's that noise…?" Jordan says as he stops laughing and listens intently. All I can hear is the breeze sweeping across the plain.

"I don't hear anything," I say, breaking the silence. I attempt to continue speaking but Jordan holds up a hand to silence me, and mouths, "Listen."

Then I hear it: It's faint, but it's a rumbling sound. Thunder? No… it's lasting too long to be thunder, and the sky is a clear blue. Then I hear… snoring?

Seriously Jordan? And I thought I was the narcoleptic one… he's seriously asleep again. I open my mouth to say pancakes, but then I hear a girl's voice say something about "Plebians" or something like that. I see a group of people… well, three people, cross over the nearest hill.

"Jordan…!" I begin, but then I notice that the rumbling sound is back; one of them is on horseback. I can plainly see that as they draw nearer. The one on horseback has brown hair and brown eyes. His hair is messy, kind of like mine—except, you know, not near as messy—and he wears blue armour with silver and gold trim, as well as the same mark as on Chrom's sword and my dagger in the middle. He also carries a long lance with a silver point.

The girl walking next to him is about my age or a year younger, putting her at about 17 or 18. She's got blonde hair tied up in pigtails with a white headdress-sort of thing. She also wears a yellow dress with a brown vest over it, and she carries a staff with a twisty-pattern on the top, with a small sapphire in the middle of it.

Finally, there's… Chrom?! It's definitely Chrom; he's exactly the same as in my dream. He also carries the sword with him that he does in the dream.

Was it a dream…?

"Hello over there!" Chrom calls. "Do you need some help?"

"Um…" I begin to reply, but they're pretty much already here. The girl is the first here and runs over to Jordan, who is still sleeping.

"What happened to him?" the knight-looking guy asks. "Is he alright?"

"He's just sleeping," I say. "I don't know why he did, but he just fell asleep for some reason."

"Is that so?" the knight asks, and by the tone of his voice, he definitely doesn't believe me. "He's… sleeping."

"But it's true!" I begin to protest, but the girl comes to my defense.

"He _is_ asleep, Frederick." She says. She's looking at Jordan and blushing a little after removing her head from his chest, and I assume she was listening to his heartbeat. "Should I wake him up?"

"Let me do it," I say, smiling a little. "Jordan, pancakes!"

"Pancakes?!" he says, bolting straight up, coming face to face with the girl, barely centimeters apart. They're staring into each other's eyes and blushing beet red.

"H-hi…" the girl says quietly.

"Hi…" Jordan gets out. Smooth, man, smooth. They stay like that for I think several minutes, and then the knight, now called Frederick, clears his throat.

"Ahem. Milady Lissa?" he says, keeping a straight face yet at the same time seeming amused.

Lissa seems to snap out of a trance as she takes a sharp breath and shakes her head. "What?"

Frederick allows a tiny smile to flash across his face for a moment, but it's gone quickly. He shakes his head. "Nothing."

Jordan, still blushing like a tomato—which really isn't like him; I've seriously never seen him blush before now, glances over to me, expecting me to say something, I suppose. I give him a playful smirk and mouth, "Smooth move, exlax." He looks over at the group of people, and then raises his hand to where he's covering his mouth, and then raises his other hand behind the cover hand, and gives me the middle finger. I just grin at that.

"So, what were you all doing out here in the first place?" Frederick asks, eyeing us suspiciously.

"Frederick—" Chrom begins, but Frederick cuts him off.

"I understand you do not wish to suspect anyone, but I must exercise great caution; they may be brigands…" Frederick trails off.

"I don't even know where we are," I admit softly. "Or how we got here."

"You are in the halidom of Ylisse, my friend," Chrom says.

"Ylisse…?" Jordan repeats, glancing at me. "Got any idea where that is, Danny?"

I shake my head, and then Frederick laughs heartily. "Ah, so they have never heard of the halidom? Someone pay these fools, they are quite the actors! The sleeping routine was exceptionally amusing…"

"Frederick!" Chrom scolds, giving him a stern expression. "Lying or not, they are innocent until proven guilty. And as such, I shall trust them until they give me reason not to." He turns to us, giving us a slightly sympathetic smile. "I'm Chrom. What are your names?"

"I-I'm Jordan. Jordan Corwin," Jordan replies, finally acting normal after his "encounter" with Lissa. He smiles a little.

"Daniel Maron," I say, also giving a small smile. "But call me Danny. Last person who called me Daniel got a swift kick in the—" I fail to notice Jordan giving me the signal to shut up, or when Frederick draws his lance.

"Are you threatening milord and milady?" he growls, pointing the lance at my throat. And yeah, that brings us to my current situation.

There's a tense silence as Frederick gives me the death-stare and the cold steel of his lance chills my body. Then Chrom speaks up, "Frederick! Put down your lance!" Frederick glares at me once more and puts down his lance. "I apologize for Frederick, Danny; he's rather overprotective and tends to take things out of proportion, especially threats that aren't actually threats."

"It's alright," I say, smiling a little. "Not the first time I've been threatened… so what exactly would you be doing here?"

Chrom smiles. "We are Shepherds." He replies simply, wiping some sweat off his forehead.

"You tend sheep…? In full armour?" Jordan asks incredulously.

Chrom chuckles a little. "It can be a dangerous job…" He trails off.

I look off and in the distance, I see smoke rising up from a town. "What's going on in that town?"

"Huh?" Chrom says, but then he looks and his eyes widen. "Oh gods… Frederick! Lissa!"

"Brigands, milord?" Frederick asks, gripping his lance.

"Let's go. Danny, Jordan, you're free to come along with us, if you wish," Chrom says, starting to run toward the village. Lissa gives Jordan one last glance, and a quick blush, and then runs after Chrom. Frederick gallops along on his horse, bobbing up and down.

"Should we follow them?" Jordan asks stupidly, to which I Gibbs-smack him. "Yeah, alright. I get ya. Let's go… but wait, we don't have anything to defend ourselves with!"

"I have this knife," I say, showing him the bronze knife I found, "and I'm sure we can find something for you along the way… like… a rock?"

"A rock?" Jordan mutters.

For some reason, I decide to take the Gameboy out of my knapsack and power it up. I hear the familiar "Pika!" cry that marks the title screen for Pokémon Yellow. I don't know why, but for some reason, Jordan yells, "Holy shit!"

"What?!" I cry, dropping the Gameboy. "What happened?!"

"The Gameboy… it shot lightning out of itself! Right when it said 'Pika'!" Jordan says, pointing at a patch of grass that is now in flames. "Look!"

"Oh my god…" I say quietly. Then I get a slight grin. "Jordan, I think we've found you a weapon."

"You mean… I can use lightning?" Jordan says excitedly. "Gimme!" he grabs the Gameboy and starts running. I follow him closely, and we have to head towards the smoke, because we can't see Chrom's group anymore. We jump over rocks, dodge around trees, and do the occasional roll when we trip.

After a decent time running, we finally reach the town walls. We hear several screams from the inside, and we notice that the gate has been forced open.

"Blasted brigands!" A voice cries. It's Chrom!

Another voice, this one harsh and cruel, laughs and yells, "Get to it, lads! Grab anything shiny, and torch the rest! We've gotta set an example for these Ylissean types, don't we boys?"

"Let's go, Jordan!" I yell, running in, drawing my sword in a sudden burst of bravery that to be honest, I never knew I had. Granted the sword isn't the size of a normal sword, it should work fine. When I pull it out of the sheath, I notice that on my right hand is a mark. It was a magenta colored U–shaped mark with six eyes on it, three on each side before the mark spiraled down and got smaller, and I've definitely never seen it before.

Then I notice Chrom stuck in a corner, fighting several men wearing wolf cowls and vests with fur, as well as brown leather pants. Most of them carry axes or swords, though some carry no weapon at all aside from a crude spear made of a simple wooden shaft with a barely sharpened rock. There are about five in all, and though Chrom is able to hold his own, he seems to be tiring.

"FOR SPARTA!" I cry, rushing in and cutting down one of the men with an axe. I have no idea why I yelled about Sparta, though I assume it was because I recently watched _300_—great movie, by the way. Three more fall to my bronze shortsword before Chrom finally dispatches the final one. He gives me a slight grin.

"And here I thought you were a helpless refugee—watch out!" Chrom yells, knocking me to the ground as a man—a brigand, I assume—is thrown into the wall behind us; his chest is charred… Jordan! "Why's his chest charred…?" Chrom wonders.

I give him a grin. "Jordan." Is all I say.

"Jordan?"

"Get down!" I growl as I push him down and a throwing axe wizzes by our heads. "And I thought you were a warrior." I say, smirking a little. "Next time, keep your head down."

I get off the ground and cut down a couple more brigands, using one's body as a shield to block another throwing axe.

Chrom and I fight off a few more brigands while Frederick is more than holding his own; a small pile of bodies has amassed around his horse, and several more brigands join it each minute as his lance pierces their bodies.

However, I don't know where Jordan and Lissa are…

"Lissa!" Chrom cries, seeing Lissa in the direct path of a throwing axe from the one who appears to be the "head honcho" of the group. He's kinda "round" if ya know what I mean, but he does appear to be rather strong. He has short brown hair and he wears a fur cape as well as leather pants; unlike his other troops, he doesn't wear the wolf cowl, but he carries a small throwing axe. There are several other throwing axes laid beside him, and a few village militiamen lie dead in front of him.

As the throwing axe nears Lissa, I see Jordan knock her down and out of the way of the axe. Jordan appears to take a slight cut on the shoulder, but other than that he's unharmed.

Upon seeing my friend hurt, some primal anger fills me; my grip on my sword tightens and I charge at the leader. He laughs and says, "Here, sheepy sheepy! Come to the slaughter!"

As he swings his axe at me, I dodge out of the way with ease. I slash at him, but he blocks with the axe and takes another swing. I block it with my sword but he downward swings repeatedly, and eventually he knocks it out of my hands, leaving me defenseless. He laughs cruelly and swings one more time, but he stops mid-swing and drops his axe.

"W-wha…?" he chokes out as blood begins to appear at the corner of his mouth. He coughs a gross red ball of blood onto my Ninja Turtles shirt, and then falls down. He's… dead?

Then I see Frederick sitting atop his horse, cleaning some blood off his lance. "You saved me," I say quietly.

"Well… if milord trusts you, I shall protect you." He says softly. "But do not mistake this: It was out of loyalty to milord Chrom that I defended you, no other reason." However, the tone of his voice states that there is some other reason that he killed the brigand leader to save me; what it may be I have no clue.

"Well… thank you." I say, smiling a little. "I would've been dead if it weren't for you, despite any motives you have for it, and I owe you one, man."

"You… owe me one?" he asks, bewildered… right, I forgot he's not from our world.

"I owe you a favour." I reply simply.

"I see… none can come to mind as of now, but if you insist, I shall think of something," he says with a nod. He gives me a tiny smile, but it disappears quickly. "Next time, though, watch yourself. And don't let your sword get knocked out of your hand."

Was that… sarcasm? Never would've expected that from him, but I allow a small smile. "Alright."

He rides off to spear another brigand. At this point there are very few left, and most are scattered.

Jordan points the Gameboy at two of the brigands and fires the lightning bolt, which strikes them both at once and kills them both. Then, out of nowhere, a brigand—the last one, I believe—jumps out and slashes his axe across Jordan's back. He cries out in pain.

I pick up my sword and, with the same primal rage as before, charge forward and stab the brigand through his chest. I withdraw my shortsword and the brigand clutches his chest for a moment, coughing up blood and falling to his knees. He draws a few sharp breaths and looks at me as if hoping for mercy.

I have no mercy for cowards who hurt my friends.

His body falls to the ground swiftly, and I hold his head high over it. I throw it to the ground harshly, and then I kneel beside Jordan. The wound isn't deep, but it's bleeding a bit. I feel around his neck, and sigh when I find a pulse.

I don't know a lot about medicine or wounds or any of that, but this doesn't appear to be fatal.

"Oh my gods, Jordan!" I hear Lissa cry, and she runs over even quicker than I did when I killed the brigand. She examines the wound slightly and then asks, "What happened to him?"

"A brigand attacked him from behind with an axe," I say softly, my voice filled with worry for my good friend. "The wound isn't too deep, I don't think."

"No," Lissa says quietly, her voice quavering a bit. "He'll be fine… just let me do my healing magic." She raises her staff and says, "_Nesta_."

A green aura settles over Jordan and a few sparkles appear all over his body; I hear something that actually kind of sounds like the Pokémon Center healing noise, and then I notice the wound closing up, and he groans a little.

"What the hell happened to me?" Jordan mutters, sitting up and rubbing his head. "And why does my back feel like it got cleaved open by a sword?"

"An axe, actually," I say quietly. "You got slashed by an axe."

"And you'll feel some back pain for a little while," Lissa says, "side-effect of the healing."

"H-how'd you do that?" Jordan asks Lissa, his voice dropping a little.

She smiles a bit. "I'm a cleric. A healer."

"Thank you…" Jordan says quietly. "I owe you one." He glances at me. "Same to you. You saved me from getting killed."

I shrug like it was nothing. "You're my bro. I got your back, Jack." I say with a slight grin. He grins back and we fist-bump. "You don't owe me nothing, man. Now get off the ground before I curbstomp you."

Lissa smiles and I hear her whisper, "At least you're not hurt… anymore." And then she turns her head and looks at me. "What does curb-stomp mean?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all." I say quickly. "You really don't wanna know."

"O-kay~?" Lissa says quietly.

I offer my hand to Jordan and pull him up. He takes my sword and stabs a dead brigand for no apparent reason, then says, "He was twitching."

"He was twitchin' because he had my axe embedded in his nervous system!" I say, quoting Gimli. We share a laugh and we notice Chrom come over.

"You two… you fought for the lives of Ylissean people," Chrom says, smiling a little. Frederick canters over on his horse and nods slightly, more so to me than Jordan. "For that, I thank you. But I must ask you, while you are in this land, what will you do?"

"To be honest, I don't know," Jordan says, speaking for me.

"Well, then… how would you like to join us on our trip to the capital, Ylisstol?" he asks. "You would have to go no further than that, should you choose not to."

Jordan and I glance at each other, and then he nods. "We'll travel with you," he replies; I can't help but notice Lissa smile a bit wider.

"Milord, did you notice? These brigands spoke with a Plegian accent," Frederick says, interrupting.

"Plegian?" Jordan asks. "What on earth is that?"

"Plegia is Ylisse's westerly neighbour," Chrom replies. "They tend to send small bands into our country, hoping to start a war."

"And it's the poor townspeople who suffer!" Lissa says indignantly, stamping her foot on the ground. "Totally innocent… helpless…"

"They do have us, milady. Shepherds to tend the sheep. Do not let your anger cloud your judgment, Padawan."

Jordan and I look at each other with wide eyes. "Did he just…?" Jordan mouths.

"Quote _Star Wars_?" I finish. "I think he did."

Jordan and I snicker slightly at that, and I open my knapsack and pull out my Mountain Dew bottle. I take a pretty big swig, but it appears as if it didn't drain at all. I offer it to Jordan. "Wanna waterfall, man?" He nods and takes the bottle graciously, pouring it into his mouth making a waterfall.

Didn't drain one bit.

"I know, I know," Lissa says quietly. "I'll get used to this." Then she perks up a little and smiles at Jordan.

An elderly villager then comes up to us and gets on his knees. "Please, milord, you must stay the night! We are simple folk, but would gladly toast your valor with a feast!"

"A most generous offer, sir, and your hospitality would be much appreciated, but I'm afraid we must hurry back to Ylisstol," Frederick says, speaking for the group.

"Dark meat only for me, medium well, and no salt in the soup, I simply…" Lissa trails off. "Wait, what?! We're not staying? But Frederick, it's almost dark!"

"When night falls, we'll camp. Eat off the land, make our beds out of twigs and the like," Frederick says with a slight smile. "I believe you said you would be, 'getting used to this'?"

"Frederick? Sometimes I hate you." Lissa says, pouting a little, to which Jordan laughs a little.

"Quite the… _stern_ lieutenant you have there," I say, smirking a little. "Puts my grandma to shame."

"Yeah, _stern_ is one way to put it," Lissa grumbles. "I can think of a few other things to call him…"

"Frederick only really smiles when he's about to bring down the axe," Chrom says, chuckling.

"Noted," I say, nodding.

"Ahem, you DO realize I'm still here, do you not?" Frederick says, clearing his throat. "Who am I now, Kellam?"

"Who's Kellam?" I ask while the others, save for Jordan, laugh.

"Just another one of us Shepherds," Chrom explains, "he tends to show up when he's not expected."

"You mean, like, early?"

"No, like literally when he isn't expected," Chrom replies, smiling a little. "But he's a great fighter and a good friend."

"So you DO remember that I'm still here?"

"Oh, we know."

Everyone—except for Frederick, of course—laughs at this. Frederick just sighs and shakes his head. "Milord is… _amusing_ as ever," he says as if he wants to say something other than amusing.

Chrom just smirks. "Ready to go, everyone?"

"Eh, let's get on with it," Jordan says, contrary to his normal self.

We walk out of the town's gates and back onto the prairie, which has grown significantly darker than when we were out there last; the trees that were once the givers of shade in the heat now cause only freezing temperatures. The warmth that was in the area during the day is fading, even though the sun has barely even set.

"Hey, Danny," Jordan says. "You know what?"

"What?"

"You haven't fallen asleep in almost a full day."

"Holy crap you're ri—*Snore*"

"…Well, it appears as if you've spoken too soon," Frederick says, laughing a little.

**Well, there you have it, the first official chapter of my Fire Emblem: Awakening story! I really hope you enjoyed, it's taken at least three months of brainstorming, Skyping, and all sorts of other collaborations to create the characters and this chapter! So if you liked it, please take some time to leave a review and…**

**Canadian: Remember, slap dat follow button with yo forehead,**

**Captain: Take care,**

**Taylor: Brush yo hair,**

**Fluffy: I'll see ya when I see ya…**

**Butter Lord: AND KILL EVERY SQUID YOU MEET!**

**Danny: Okay, seriously man? We don't need any violence toward squids right now…**

**Butter Lord: Quiet, Danny. I can always feed you to Minerva…**

**Danny: …I'll be good.**

**Jordan: Danny, I thought you were a Spartan!**

**Danny: *Gibbs-slap* Shut up! Do you wanna get fed to Minerva?**

**Okay, seriously everyone, take care!**


	2. Prologue Part 2: Pancakes and a Dragon

**Hey everyone!**

**Captain: We're BAAAAAAACK!**

**Quiet, Captain. Anyways, we're back with a new chapter! This one is going to be a bit shorter, mostly because it introduces the other characters and where they are/where they went. **

**Taylor: Now, without further ado...**

**Fluffy: Get ready...**

**Canadian: For...**

**Butter Lord: BUTTER!**

**NO! Get ready for the next chapter!**

**Disclaimer: We don't own Fire Emblem.**

* * *

_Taylor's POV_

Well, this is a fine kettle of fish I've gotten myself into. I've been chased up a tree by a bunch of tracking dogs-they look more like wolves, really-and I've had spears and stuff thrown at me by angry dudes who look like savages; they all wore wolf cowls and fur vests and leather pants and they all carried crude weapons, mostly makeshift spears or axes.

They aren't the greatest runners though; then again, I was a track star back home. I would be pondering my location, but with the mad dudes and damn wolves, I haven't had time to stop running.

Well, that is until now, of course, considering that I'm stuck in a tree while a bunch of rabid dogs try to kill me, even though they can't climb. And it sucks because I can't get down...

And I seriously have to pee... hmm... hey, do you guys think that if I pee on the dogs, they'll go away...?

Worth a try. I grab ahold of a seemingly sturdy tree branch and climb up onto it and take a look at the dogs; I remember how one actually got me in the ankle while I was running and nearly knocked me down, but I managed to keep running.

"This is for my ankle!" I yell, unzipping my now torn pants and peeing on the dogs. They whine and bark a bit more, but they don't back off. They start attempting to jump up the tree, but to no avail.

Well, that was a total failure. Why'd you all let me do that?! Seriously, what kind of spectators are you... oh, wait this isn't a video. Sorry for snappin' at ya.

Anyways, while I'm up here, I might as well tell y'all how I got to this place: It all started in a hole in the ground... no, literally. Not a _Hobbit_ joke.

When I woke up from my unconsciousness, I was actually in a hole in the ground; not a big hole, and definitely not a Hobbit hole. It was kind of small, barely big enough for my body to fit inside, and rather dark and smelly. Then I realized why it was so smelly…

It was full of various… droppings. So basically, I woke up in a crap hole in the middle of a field somewhere. The field was mostly flat with many trees and short grass, kind of like a real-life version of the Hylian Field from _Legend of Zelda_.

And you know what the worst part—even worse than standing in feces—is? I have no clue where I am. I've studied as much as I can about the world, and this place doesn't ring a bell at all.

First thing I yell out? "JORDAN! Is this your doing?!" And yes, I _do_ in fact have a legitimate reason to place any blame on Jordan. "Jordan, if you accidentally roofie'd us again, I swear to god I'll…!"

Yeah… Jordan accidentally roofie'd us once, when we went to Canada with Mitch and we had to track Jerome and Danny throughout Quebec. Long story—good story for sure—but not for today.

So you can see why I'd be quick to blame Jordan if something like this happened.

Anyway, when I get no response, I began to wonder where my friends were, even more so than where the hell I was in the first place. "DANNY! MITCH! …Jerome?" I called out. "…Guys?"

Yeah, I was really desperate, calling out for Jerome, who is the one person in the group less responsible than Adam, who is almost completely and utterly insane in my opinion.

And then I heard a couple of yells from somewhere far off; I couldn't make out what they were saying, and much against my better judgment, I yelled out, "GUYS?! Is that you?!"

After a few seconds, the yells sounded out again, and I called back, "OVER HERE!"

Yeah… definitely not the best idea. After a few minutes, a group of ten dudes—the ones with the fur cowls that I told you all about earlier—came into view, each of them holding the leashes of several wolf-like dogs. One of the guys, who was much bigger than the others, told the others something and then yelled out to me, "Hey! You, kid!"

Definitely not my friends…

"HEY! I'm talkin' to ya!" he growled, moving closer. He's got dark skin and bulging muscles, and he's got short black hair and a beard that kind of looks like Thorin Oakenshield's. "What the hell are ya doin' out here, boy?"

I'm actually pretty scared, but I managed to call out, "I-I don't know!"

"Ya don't know what yer doin' here?" he said, and then laughed mockingly. "Very funny. Who are ya, kid?"

I started to back up a little, unsure of what to say.

Then one of the other guys says something to him, and the guy—I'm just gonna assume he's the leader of the group—said, "Where are ya from? Are ya an Ylissean or a Plegian?"

Ylissean? Plegian? What the hell is that supposed to mean?

"W-what?"

"Ya heard me! Are ya from Ylisse or the great country of Plegia?!" he demanded, his voice cruel. He appeared to be loosing his grip on a few of the leashes, as the dogs, now barking and frothing at the mouth, stalk closer to me.

"Is that where I am? Plegia?" I asked, continuing to back up until I hit the rough side of a tree.

"Damn right," he growled. "So what are ya?"

Though I didn't know for sure, I could easily assume that this guy wasn't especially fond of Ylisse. I began to analyze my options: Lie and possibly get discovered, and then get in huge trouble and possibly killed, run and probably get killed, or tell the truth and more than likely get killed.

Either way, it didn't seem to end well.

"Boss, he sounds like he has one o' them Ylissean accents…" one of the guys that was with him said suspiciously, drawing nearer and pulling a crude stone axe from his belt. He was the one guy out of the group who didn't have a dog with him.

"Yeah, I noticed that," the boss said thoughtfully, and I could practically see the steam coming out of his ears as he appeared to be in deep thought.

At that moment, I decided that now was as good a time as any, and possibly the best chance I could get, at running. So, I readied myself to run; I've been doing track and field since 6th grade, so there was a good chance I could out run them.

While their boss was still thinking, I got into a crouched position, and I took off at my top speed, running like a maniac being chased by a bunch of hellhounds… which I pretty much was.

Which pretty much brings me to now. After running for a few miles, I'm feeling kind of winded, and my feet hurt a bit, although I can still go on—not for too long, though.

And then I realize that I've come to a cliff; a ravine goes straight down for farther than I can see, and it's at least a mile from my side to the other. I'm trapped; the only possible protection from the dogs is a fairly tall tree, which I decide to climb. I grab onto the lowest branch and hoist myself up; the strength training from sophomore and junior year has really helped for this.

I climb up to the middle of the tree, where I find a little nook that I can sit in. I hear the dogs barking and I know they aren't far behind.

Within about five minutes, the dogs are at the bottom of the tree, jumping and barking like crazy. Then I hear their owners shouting, and can tell that they're only a few minutes away.

Well, at least I outran them… but now how the hell am I gonna get outta this one? …Need to pee! Gotta pee!

So, as I've already stated, I pee on the dogs—that isn't helpful at all; if anything it only enrages them more.

And then their owners reach the bottom of the tree, and the boss coos, "Aw… looks like a wittle kitty is stuck in a twee!"

I SERIOUSLY want to kick that guy's ass… too bad if I go down there I'll be ripped apart by those hellhounds.

Then I have a brilliant idea—you'll love this one. I notice that there is a small nest on a branch next to me, and there are a few eggs in there.

As much as I love animals, I just can't resist. I pick up a few of the eggs, and just hold them.

"Hey! What are ya doin' with those eggs?" the boss growls menacingly. Then he turns to his group and says, "Anyone got a bow?" When no one speaks up, he sighs. "Dammit… anyway, what the hell are ya doin' with those Grima-damned eggs?!"

"These eggs?"

"Yeah, those eggs!"

"Well… I thought you'd like to wear one!" I reply, lobbing one of the eggs and striking the boss right on the forehead. When the egg doesn't splatter against his forehead like I had planned, I realize my mistake.

That was a rock I threw at him.

And so the boss falls down, probably unconscious—possibly dead, I'm not exactly sure how hard I threw the rock. Most of his minions swarm around his body and check for a pulse—in the wrong places, I might add. One or two of them curse at me, but none of them try to climb it.

So, at this moment of peace, I suppose I should tell you a bit about me.

My name is Taylor McKay; as of three days ago, I'm 18—I'm the third oldest of our group—and I'm 5' 8". I have short black hair, much of a contrast to Danny, whose hair is styled like Neji Hyuga's. My hair is, thanks to my OCD mother, always combed and never goes down past the middle of my forehead. I've got a runner's build, and as such I don't have much muscle definition anywhere except for my legs. I have a few freckles around my nose and I have violet eyes that are sharp and kind of like a hawk's.

Oh, now the guys start looking pissed. "Ya killed our leader, ya rotten brat!" one of them cries.

"Did you check his pulse?"

"Yeah!"

"In his neck?"

"YEAH!"

Well, by god, I'm a murderer.

"And now, yer gonna die!" the same one growls, beginning to climb up the tree, moving the dogs out of the way. As he draws closer to my nook, I kick at his head and say, "Down boy. Bad dog."

After a few kicks, he falls back down and slams on his back, swearing like a fiend, to which I laugh like a madman. A few more of his buddies try to climb up, but most of them are too big to get past the first couple branches.

However, there is the one who manages to get very close, close enough so that I have to move toward the top of the tree. When I get to the top, I kick at him a few times but can't knock him off. He tries to grab at me; he doesn't seem to have a weapon though. I deliver a swift kick to the nose, causing him to grasp his now bleeding sniffer and topple backward into the nook.

He appears to be stuck, because he can't really move that well. He tries to get at me, but he's down for the count, I believe. He yells to the others to come and help him, and I realize then how trapped I am.

"…Shit," I mutter, looking down. What I wouldn't give to have even Jerome helping me out right now; I mean, that dude almost always carries a knife or something with him.

Sometimes I _really_ hate how arrogant and frustrating I can be. And how dumb I can be to climb a tree. On the edge of a cliff.

Then I hear a _whoosh_ and a flapping sound; what on earth could that be?

My answer comes in the form of a woman riding on top of a… dragon?! I'm not even kidding, she's riding a freaking DRAGON… it actually kind of looks like an Ender Dragon, you know, from Minecraft.

Anyway, the woman is wearing a gray and black breastplate as well as a gray helmet that kind of looks like a dragon's head; she also wears long gray and gold boots and black stockings underneath, with a gray and gold battle skirt. She gives me a slight smirk and says, "Looks like you're in a bit of trouble."

"You're a regular Einstein, aren't you?" I say sarcastically. "Care to give me a hand?"

She claps, and I face-palm. "Hey, you asked for a hand, so I gave you a hand." She says with a slight laugh.

Great, just great. Someone who happens to be as sarcastic as I am; that's just great.

"Anyways, hop on, and don't mind the dragon. She only eats… whatever I tell her to." The girl says, extending her hand to me. I grab it and she pulls me onto the dragon. "Don't mind flying, do you?"

I shake my head; to be honest, I'm quite terrified of heights, but in order to get out of here, I'll risk it. "As long as I get the hell away from these guys."

She grins and kicks the dragon's sides with her boots. "Hold on tight," she warns as the dragon takes off at a high speed. "Minerva is a pretty smooth ride, although she does tend to go fast."

The wind is rushing quite loudly in my ears now, and I yell, "Thanks for the help!"

"You're welcome! Figured I might as well save you instead of being an arse and leaving you!" she replies. "My name is Cherche, by the way!"

"I'm Taylor!" I say.

"Where are you headed, Taylor?"

"…No clue." I say, shaking my head. My grip on the dragon's scaly side is holding fast, contrary to my belief. "Don't even know where I am."

"You're in Plegia! How do you not know where you are?" she laughs. She has a pretty cute laugh… snap out of it, Taylor… "Are you, like, from another world or something?"

"Uh…" I just shake my head and don't say anything. "Never mind. Where are you headed?"

"Back to my homeland, Rosanne!" she says, and I see her give me a slight smile. "Since you don't know where you're going, how about you come to Rosanne with me?"

I shrug and say, "Alright. Makes as much sense as anything right now, especially the dragon."

"Hey! She's a wyvern!" Cherche says indignantly. "There's a difference!"

"What is it?"

"I have no clue, I'll think of something eventually!" she replies. "But anyway, Rosanne it is!" We speed up a bit, and she's right: This wyvern is a pretty smooth ride. Even smoother than a plane, which I'm scared to death of… and then my fear of heights begins to kick in.

I look down at the ground rushing far below us, and think of how long it would take to SPLAT and hit it… but that thought melts away as soon as the land gives way to the blue sea, which brings the thought of sharks waiting for me if I'd fall.

Yeah, despite my outward personality, I'm actually pretty fearful of heights. So I squeeze my eyes shut and—not by choice, so don't even get the idea in your head—move a bit closer to Cherche, and she doesn't actually seem to mind.

But then I laugh, thinking of the sea and of Adam's hatred for squids.

"What's so funny?" Cherche yells over the rush of the win. "Did you look in a mirror?"

"Ha, ha," I say mockingly. "No, it's just something one of my friends does…" I sigh. I wonder where Adam and the guys are now… hopefully they're alright, although knowing Adam he's probably in hot water with some dudes for trying to hustle them at pool or whatever they have here.

I really just hope I see my friends again…

* * *

_Jerome's POV_

Well, I'm freezing.

What? Were you expecting something, I don't know, epic?

Stinks for you then, everyone.

Also, before I start, I'll tell you about me. My name is Jerome Carpenter and I'm 17 years old. I'm about 5' 8" with short brown hair and fair skin. I've got a pretty nice build; I'm average size, and I have long legs—perfect for when I played basketball. I don't have much muscle definition, although I do happen to be rather strong.

Anyway, when I arrived in this land I landed in a huge pile of snow. It's freezing cold out and I'm in the middle of a forest. The trees, just like the ground, are covered in snow, pretty much making it a huge white wonderland.

"The hell is this, Christmas?" I hear… Mitch?! I turn around and see my best friend, grinning at me. "It's about time you wake up, buddy."

"How long have I been out?" I ask the red-headed 17 year old. He's got—obviously—red hair that's usually gelled up, although now it's apparently gone limp because of the snow, and he also has brown eyes and freckles. He's a little taller than me, so about six feet even. He's also got semi-pale skin.

"Uh… 'bout three hours. I've been scouting around," Mitch says, "and there's a fort somewhere up ahead. Think we should go there?"

"It's worth a try," I say, glancing around. There's nothing really special about any of the surroundings, except for the obvious fact that we're not in our own world anymore—it was July in our town for god's sake! …Even though we were in Washington, rain capital of the U.S.A. "By the way, where are the others?"

"I don't know, man," Mitch says with a sigh. "You and me are the only people I've seen so far." He shakes his head, and then his eyes widen a bit. "Hey! Maybe it's like that one _Lord of the Rings_ fanfiction we read that one time!"

"Which one?" I ask, referencing the many _Lord of the Rings_ fanfictions we have read—and authored.

"The one where the college friends are transported into Middle-earth and separated and all that…" Mitch says, trying to remember more details about it. "Don't remember anything else about it, though."

"You… might just be right, you crazy ginger," I say with a slight grin, fist-bumping him.

"Hey… where'd you get that knapsack?" Mitch asks, staring at me weirdly.

"What? I wasn't wearing a backpack…" I say, checking my back. Sure enough, there is a knapsack there; I pull it off and examine it: It's a red and brown Nike knapsack with orange drawstrings. I open it up and look inside.

Inside, there's a small axe with a sharpened blade; it shines with a polished silvery gleam. There is also a… bow?

Like, seriously?

And there's also a clear bottle of… Dr. Pepper! Thank god, I'm saved! …Oh, and there's also a single pouch of Scooby-Doo fruit snacks.

That's when I notice that Mitch happens to have a quiver of arrows on his back. "Dude, where did you get the quiver?" I ask, nodding at the leather pouch that holds… probably 30 arrows.

"Quiver? What quiver?" He questions, feeling his back. "I'll be damned. Never noticed that before."

I have to laugh a little at my friend's obliviousness. "Alright… well, I know you're good with a bow, ya boy scout, so here." I toss him the normal-sized bow, a brown crescent with a neon drawstring. I take the axe for myself, just because I love axes—they're surprisingly good weapons, not that I've ever actually used them.

"Thank ya biggums," Mitch says, grinning at me. "Hey, do you got any pancakes in there?"

* * *

_No one's POV, Ylisse w/Danny, Jordan & the others_

Everyone naps peacefully, curled around the campfire which still burns brightly. They are in a forest, not quite dark yet. The pine trees shake in the wind, sending the sound of bristling needles flowing through the air.

Then a noise breaks the peacefulness: "PANCAKES!" Jordan cries, bolting up from his slumber.

"GOD DAMN IT JORDAN!" Danny yells, Gibbs-smacking his friend.

* * *

_Jerome's POV_

"Nah buddy, just Scooby-Doo fruit snacks," I say, "if I did, Jordan probably would've stolen the pancakes already."

* * *

_Back in Ylisse…_

*SMACK!* *SMACK!* "Now go back to sleep and stop yelling about pancakes, dammit!"

* * *

_Jerome's POV_

"Did you hear that?" Mitch asks. "I could've sworn I heard Jordan yelling about pancakes…"

"Nah dog," I say. "Let's get moving to the fort. We can figure things out later." Mitch nods to this, and takes the lead. We walk to the east, toward the fort, if I'm to trust my best friend's sense of direction and his memory.

Which may actually be a mistake, I'm not quite sure yet.

Anyway, after a few miles, we come upon a large stone fortress. It too is covered in snow but it blends in with the bleached stone walls. There is a large steel gate that is currently shut.

Then we hear a woman's voice yell, "Halt! Who goes there?"

"What was that?" Mitch asks, to which I shrug. We look up toward the top of the gatehouse and we see a woman in armour glaring down at us. She has short blonde hair and a stern expression on her face.

"Who are you?" She demands. "Speak, knaves! Or perish under the Feroxi archers!"

As she says that, several archers spring up beside her, their bows drawn and arrows aimed at us.

"I am Mitch O'Reilly," Mitch yells out confidently. "And this is my friend Jerome Carpenter. We are merely travelers seeking shelter from the snow."

I turn my head and stare at him for a moment. "What the hell are you doing, Mitch?"

"Using my roleplaying experience," Mitch whispers back. "Remember that one game where you have to try to infiltrate a fort? Well, that's what I'm trying, except I mean no harm."

"Strangers are not welcome into the palace of the East Khan," she replies.

"Hold it, Raimi!" another female voice calls. A woman with dark skin and blonde hair tied in a frizzy ponytail walks up next to her. She wears sleeveless red and white armour with matching greaves, as well as a dark blue skirt. "These travelers…" she then whispers something to Raimi; I catch just a snatch of their conversation, something about "Warriors" and "victory". "Open the gates!" she orders.

The gates begin to slowly rise up with a loud clanking, and I glance at Mitch. "We're in," he whispers, and we grin at each other.

"You may enter," the pony-tailed woman says. "Enjoy your stay." She looks over us, but her gaze lingers on me for a bit.

"…I've got a bad feeling about this," I whisper to him, remembering the "warrior" part.

"Don't question hospitality… but I know what you mean," he replies, shaking his head. "Besides, if we don't get out of the cold, we'll die. So just go with it for now, and we'll worry about repercussions later."

And with that, we walk into the courtyard of the fort, which is filled with a few pine trees and a few armoured warriors sparring with each other. The woman with the ponytail meets us at the front door of the palace, and proceeds to open it for us. "Dinner is in three hours," she says, "and we will find you two some rooms very soon." She gives us a smile, and once more, I'm somewhat suspicious… but I assume I should leave my suspicions behind for now.

We settle in front of a fireplace, not bothering to sit on anything. I take a quick glance around at the palace: High walls, painted red and brown, as well as large windows, showing the snowy outside. There are several chairs set around the fireplace, mostly brown armchairs.

The palace is full of large hallways with several doorways on each side.

As we warm ourselves in front of the fire, I feel a sharp blow to the head—yes, another one, not like the one from the concert though. This time, I fall unconscious rather quickly; I'm not sure about Mitch.

_Several hours later…_

I awaken in the middle of… an arena? Mitch is by my side and still out cold; I shake him awake. "Where are we?" he mutters

The arena is kind of like the Roman coliseum, with sandstone walls and several archways all over the place. It spirals up to an open ceiling, where snow falls in from.

"I don't know, man… last thing I remember is…" I facepalm. "I KNEW I should've been suspicious…!"

Then we hear a clanking noise, and several men in dark cloaks appear; they all have hoods covering their heads and most carry swords.

"Welcome to the Eastern Feroxi Arena," a familiar voice says… it's the ponytailed woman from the palace! "I am Flavia, the East Khan. I'm sorry to have done this to you boys," she says as I notice her in a spectator's box. "But this is a test all must go through if they plan to stay at my palace. You see, every two years the East and West Khans of Ferox choose champions to fight at the Central Feroxi Arena. The winning side gets control over the whole land. So I wish to test you and see if you may be champions." She gives us a small smile. "If you can defeat these men, then you shall join our group to fight the West Khan!"

I'll admit, I'm apprehensive about fighting… but I truly fear that if I do not fight, I may be killed.

So fight I shall.

"BEGIN!" Flavia yells, and the cloaked men charge at us, brandishing their swords.

One of them immediately runs toward me; I side-step and he runs into a wall, crashing to the ground. "That's gotta hurt," I say with a slight laugh.

Then I notice that Mitch is actually killing them… I think. He's felling them with arrows, although I'm not sure if it's killing them or not. Most of them land in their shoulders or stomachs, which probably aren't kill shots.

He's taken down about three of the charging men, while I've taken down one. Then one managed to get behind Mitch somehow, and he doesn't even notice. I whip out my axe and slam the hilt into the back of his head, knocking him out cold. There are four more left, and I'll admit, if these are her best warriors, then I don't doubt that she has lost the competition the past few years.

Mitch shoots one in the side of the neck with an arrow—I think that may have been an accident, I don't think he wanted to hit there—and sends one flying that glances off the side of another's shoulder.

The one that took the arrow to the shoulder, I put him down with my axe, and then slash another across the chest.

…Pushovers.

Okay, to be honest, I never knew I had that in me; I mean, I'm just a basketball player. I've never been in a fight before… so why can I fight so well?

Mitch fells the last one with an arrow to the side, and Flavia claps for us. "Nice work, boys… or should I say, champions. You may stay in my palace for as long as you need." She says, smiling. Her gaze once more lingers on me, but then she adds, "And you remain unscathed… truly excellent work."

"Thank you, East Khan," Mitch says, bowing and reverting to his roleplaying game self. I follow suit and bow, thanking her.

"Thank you for your hospitality," I say.

As we walk out of the arena, Mitch says, "Did you see those arrows? I never thought I could shoot that well!"

"Yeah, I know! I didn't know I was that good with an axe!" I say, laughing. "Hey, Mitch?"

"What?"

"The hell have we gotten ourselves into? I mean, a fight with probably ten-times stronger soldiers, who are trained and all?"

"…Shit." Mitch says.

* * *

_Flying to Rosanne_

"Hmm… I kind of want pancakes right now," Taylor mutters, still flying quickly with Cherche.

* * *

_Ylisse_

"PANCAAAAAKES!" Jordan yells.

*SMACK!* Danny Gibbs-slaps Jordan, and yells, "QUIT IT WITH THE GODDAMN PANCAKES!"

* * *

**Well, this has been the "Part 2" chapter of our Fire Emblem fanfiction! I hope you enjoyed the fruits of 15 hours of sworn brotherly collaboration, as well as 12 giant bottles of Mountain Dew, 11 Pizza Hut pizzas, 10 minutes of sleep, 9 laps around my dorm room during our breaks, 8 Gibbs-slaps to Fluffy and the Canadian, 7 headbutts to Taylor, 6 cupcakes, 5 fist-bumps, 4 Foo Fighters CDs, 3 seasons of The Big Bang Theory, 2 broken Xbox controllers after break, and 1 Pokémon Emerald getting thrown out the window during an argument. **

**Yeah, our collaboration sessions are nuts… anyway, once more, I hope you enjoyed, and if you did… **

Canadian: Remember, slap dat follow button with yo forehead,

Captain: Take care,

Taylor: Brush yo hair,

Fluffy: I'll see ya when I see ya…

Butter Lord: AND KILL EVERY SQUID YOU MEET!

Danny: Okay, seriously man? We don't need any violence toward squids right now…

Butter Lord: Quiet, Danny. I can always feed you to Minerva…

Danny: …I'll be good.

Taylor: Wait, I thought Cherche was—

Shut up, Taylor! No spoiler alerts!

Jordan: Danny, I thought you were a Spartan!

Danny: *Gibbs-slap* Shut up! Do you wanna get fed to Minerva?

Okay, seriously everyone, take care!


	3. Chapter 1: Semi-Welcome Changes

**Hey everyone!**

**Captain: We're BAAAAAACK!**

**Seriously dude? Again?**

**Captain: Yup!**

**Anyway, we're back with a new chapter of this Fire Emblem fanfic! And before we start, I'd personally like to say that we probably went a little overboard with the "Jordan-Pancakes Reaction" as we've started to call it, so if you got annoyed, I apologize-I honestly had no control over it, because they, believe it or not, called in my sister from her dorm room across campus and had her hogtie me... it was very uncomfortable.**

**Canadian: Does your ass still hurt?**

**...Very much so...**

**Fluffy: Sorreh buddy. I'll finish this off for ya... anyway, we hope you enjoy this chapter! As always, leave a review if you like it-let's try to get up to at least 5 reviews for this one! Make sure you follow, favourite, all that. Peace!**

_Danny's POV_

Well, after the pancake mishap, we realized that we had no clue why we were all napping at the same time; Frederick scolded us about "constant vigilance" or something like that-total Mad-Eye Moody right there.

Anyway, the fire was slowly dying down and the woods were giving off a more sinister aura; we had already eaten-a bear, believe it or not-but we were beginning to feel somewhat hungry. None of us ate much, particularly Frederick, who ate nothing.

"I wish I had some weenies or marshmallows or somethin'," Jordan says as we add more wood to the fire, "the bear wasn't that filling... I mean, it's not pancakes..."

"You can say that again," I say, yawning and taking a look around the clearing we're camping in.

"I wish I had some weenies or marshmallows or somethin'," Jordan repeats, giving me a slight grin as he quotes the greatest reality show ever-Duck Dynasty.

"You can say that again," I return his grin and throw one last log on the fire.

"Okay," he says. "I wish I had some weenies or marshmallows or somethin',"

"Same here, Johnny Godwin." I say, sitting back in the grass. I open my knapsack to get my Mountain Dew bottle and rummage around inside—even with so few stuff, it's gotten very cluttered; I'm not exactly organized, you know!

But then I feel something else… it feels like… "A hot dog?" I say, pulling a couple hot dogs out of the bag. "Where the hell did these come from?"

"Hmm, got any pancakes in there?" Jordan asks hopefully, and I can practically see him jumping up and down in excitement.

"Nope."

"…You didn't even check," Jordan protests, sighing a little.

"I checked when I found the hot dogs," I reply, "but I do wish I had my guitar…" I add, looking into the bag. No dice. "Well, no guitar, no pancakes… we're both outta luck."

Jordan picks up a couple long sticks. "Might as well roast up the hot dogs. Got any buns?" When I shake my head, he grins and says, "Hell yeah! Now it can be like the bro camping trip two years ago!"

"…Except I had my guitar, but this is good enough," I say, smiling as well. "Hey, go ask Frederick if he wants a hot dog."

"What about Lissa… and Chrom?" he asks, and I smirk a little when Lissa is the first one that comes to his mind. I think that my little buddy—okay, he's not exactly little, he's only about 3 inches shorter than me—might have actually fallen in love… well, I'll admit I'm not exactly the best with "love" as they call it…

"I don't even know where they are," I say, shaking my head. "Haven't seen them since the bear meat…"

**Theme Song – Sign by FLOW**

(**I realize the screaming pain, hearing loud in my brain, but I'm going straight ahead with the scar…**) We see Danny and his band up onstage as they were in the first prologue, playing their instruments. One by one, starting with CJ, they begin to clutch their heads and fall, finally stopping at Danny, who, before going unconscious, looks up and sees Validar sneering at him. Then Danny wakes up with the strange mark on his hand.

(**Instrumentals, "Can you hear me" repeats in the background) **Beginning with Jordan and Danny, they begin to wake up in their areas—Jordan and Danny in Ylisse, Mitch and Jerome in Regna Ferox, Taylor in Plegia, Adam in Valm, and CJ outside of Ylisstol, near the Shepherd's barracks. They look around and call out for each other, but, except in Taylor's case, get mostly no response—Taylor gets the brigands and their wardogs chasing after him, to which he runs away in a comedic way.

(**Wasurete shimaeba iiyo, kanjinakunacchaeba ii, surimuita kokoro no futa shitanda**) We see the group beginning to show up on separate slides like in a slide show, beginning with Danny; each "slide" is a different colour; Danny's is blue, CJ's is orange, Jordan's is purple, Mitch's is red, Jerome's is green, and Adam's is gold. They each carry special weapons: Danny has his bronze short sword, and he presses a button on it, transforming it into a six foot long battle-staff with blades coming out of each end; CJ has a golden tome and is shooting thunderbolts out at us; Jordan has his Gameboy, and when he powers it up, a Pikachu jumps out of the screen as he shows it to the audience, and gives off its signature "Pika!"; Mitch has a silvery-coloured bow and shoots several arrows simultaneously. Jerome has his little axe, which he throws into the air and it becomes a double-sided battle axe; finally, Adam has a seven foot "Killer Lance" with a golden blade—his "Butter Lance" as he will refer to it. Finally, they come together in panels—much like in the Bakugan intro—and the screen shatters to read "Fire Emblem: Kyodai no Kizuna" in bright gold letters, standing out against a black background.

(**Kizutsuitatte heiki dayo mou itami wa nai kare ne, sono ashi wo hikizuri nagara mo**) The group is placed in the middle of a large band of Risen, who immediately charge the boys. There's a large flash and a lightning bolt, and we hear "PIKA!" as the Risen that are closest to the group quickly disintegrate. Another large flash, and then most of the Shepherds, particularly Chrom, Lissa, Frederick, Stahl, Sumia, Vaike, and Kellam, appear standing around the guys as they begin to help them push back the Risen. Another flash, and then everyone except for Danny is gone, and Validar suddenly appears in front of Danny. Danny raises his battle-staff, while Validar raises a black tome.

(**Miushinatta, jibun jishin ga, oto wo tatete kuzureteitta, kizukeba, kaze no oto dake ga**) Danny uses his battle-staff to conjure lightning bolts, which he hurls at Validar, who dodges each bolt. Validar uses his tome to summon several Risen who surge toward Danny, but get cut up in the attempt. Validar conjures a pretty much lightsaber of dark energy and runs at Danny; Danny also runs at Validar and they begin to strike at each other with their weapons. A large flash occurs and the scene shatters.

(**Tsutaeni kitayo, kizuato tadotte, sekai ni oshitsubusarete simau mae ni**) The scene reassembles and we see the boys as just their group standing in a circle. Then as the song goes on we see the Shepherds assembling around them as they all raise their hands and give out an audible cry of "_Shori_!"

(**Oboeteru kana? Namida no sora wo, ano itami ga kimi no kotow o mamottekureta**) Then we see the Shepherds in the midst of battle, fighting the Valmese fleet; we see Danny is the last person on the boat aimed toward the general's boat, and as he throws down a fireball, at the last minute Cordelia swoops in and pulls him off the ship as it bursts into flames and crashes into the general's flagship. They share a smile as the scene changes to Taylor and Cherche riding on wyverns as they drop stones on the Plegian castle, and within seconds the walls begin to explode, giving an entrance for Chrom and Danny. Then we zoom in to see Jordan wounded in the courtyard while Lissa works on healing him; after a few seconds she leans down and begins to press her lips to his, but before that happens the scene quickly switches to Mitch riding behind Sully on a horse, as she spears Risen and Mitch shoots Plegian dark mages. Then CJ is seen, protecting Emmeryn from an onslaught of Brigands with his lightning-shooting tome. Lastly we see Adam, running alongside a dragon, plowing into a horde of Plegian knights with his "Butter Lance" and the dragon spews flames, and after the knights are burnt to cinders or slain by the lance, the dragon turns into Tiki, and Adam sets down his lance and stands beside her, putting his arm around her; she smiles and moves in to kiss him.

(**Sono itami ga itsumo kimi wo mamotterunda**) We see Chrom and Danny confronting Grima in the final fight, and as Danny and Grima battle, the scene begins to darken and all of Danny's friends are seen gathering around him and before he can strike the final blow, Chrom sweeps in with his Falchion and kills Grima.

(**Instrumental, "Can you hear me"**) As Grima falls and is sealed away, we see parties happening throughout Ylisse and Ferox, and we stop in Ylisstol as we see a rather large procession going through the streets, with all the citizens cheering as the Shepherds walk through the main street and up to the palace.

(**So am I…**) Chrom turns and raises his right hand to the people, balled up in a fist as he declares, "_Shori_!" We then zoom out to a sunset, overlooking a cliff; we see two people sitting on the bluff, staring at the sunset, and we zoom in to find that it is in fact Danny and Cordelia. Before the screen fades to black, their lips meet.

(_Begin flashback_)

We were sitting in the middle of the forest; it's getting to be around sunset at this point, and Jordan the Boy Scout just started a fire—my guess is to impress Lissa, although what kind of woman is impressed by fire?

…Apparently Lissa, because she started clapping after Jordan's 30 minute struggle—when I called him out on it he protested that he pretty much "flunked out" of the Scouts. Although her clapping MIGHT have been caused by the warmth, because I'll admit it was actually getting somewhat cold outside.

Anyway, while my resourceful Boy Scout friend was attempting to start a fire, Frederick was out hunting while Chrom looked for some berries or something. After a while Frederick returned… dragging a BEAR. Not even exaggerating, it was a huge black bear, probably about 7 or 8 feet tall with spots on it; its shaggy arms and legs ended with large claws that looked surprisingly dull.

At the same time Chrom had returned with an armful of what look like Muscatine berries: Small black berries that, because of Silas Robertson, I fear may actually be raccoon crap. He grinned when he saw the bear being cut up by ol' Freddie and said, "Thank the gods, it's been far too long since I've had bear meat!"

That causes Lissa to snap out of her fangirliness and sigh; "Bear? Really? Couldn't you have speared something else? I mean, we're kind of messing with the food chain here!"

By the time she was finished with a little rant about the food chain or whatever she was talking about, we'd already cooked up some and were eating it.

I'll admit, it was actually pretty good; although this is coming from a former redneck—that was back when I lived in Louisiana—who eats almost anything. Plus neither of us had eaten since we went to IHOP at midnight last night and had, yes, pancakes.

"You agree that this is gross, don't you, Jordan?" Lissa asked, not noticing that, just like me, Jordan was pretty much burying his face in the bear meat. She looked over and sighed, saying, "Oh well, I'm sure anyone would eat anything after not eating for days…"

Jordan removed himself from his meal long enough to say, "I ate earlier." and returned to his "feast."

"How is it, Jordan? Cooked well enough?" I asked, trying to get him to say more than three words.

"Good. Not pancakes, but good." Jordan grumbled.

Five words, that's a new record.

So I went back to eating; I had helped Chrom squeeze the berries and much to my surprise discovered that they were, in fact, Muscatine berries. We would've tried to make some Muscatine wine, but according to Chrom, we didn't have all the ingredients, so instead we just made some juice.

That went pretty nice with the meat, surprisingly.

Worst part, though?

I fell asleep while drinking, and apparently it splattered all over me.

(_End flashback_)

So yup, I fell asleep after I finished eating—thanks a lot, narcolepsy!—and Jordan didn't even bother to wake me up, that asshole… but when I woke up, Lissa and Chrom were gone, Frederick was chopping firewood or something, and Jordan was… being Jordan.

I'm starting to think he's going a little crazy, because he was talking in his Gollum voice—which is actually really good. "My Precious pancakeses… we must find the pancakeses, musn't we Precious…? Yes, _gollum, gollum_, we must haves it!"

But anyway it brings us back to our hot dogs.

"Frederick, do you want a hot dog?" Jordan asks the still fully armoured knight, who looks at it apprehensively.

"You people eat dog? You savages!" Frederick says somewhat angrily.

"Relax, Freddie," I say, forcing back a laugh. "It's pork." I think it is anyway.

"…I suppose I could try one," he says, calming down. I pull a nicely cooked one and toss it to him; he grabs it and after fumbling with it for a minute, he bites into it. "Mm… this is pretty good."

"It is, isn't it?" I smile a little before going back to cooking. This totally reminds me of the bro campout me and the guys had two years ago; we ate our hot dogs off of the sticks we roasted them on, slept in a tent, and Jordan went Gollum on us. "We ate these all the time back home. It's perfect for when we're camping."

"So you said you had other friends here?" Frederick asks.

"I don't know if they're here or not… the only one I know for sure is here is Jordan." I reply, looking down. "If they're here… I hope that they're alright."

Jordan nods in agreement but says nothing. He just munches on his hot dog quietly. No doubt he's worried for Adam—although we're all best friends in the group, we each have our one friend who is closer to us than the other; for me it's CJ, for Jordan it's Adam, and for Mitch it's Jerome.

"…Hey, where did Chrom and Lissa go?" I ask, breaking the silence that has come over us.

Chrom and Lissa walk through the forest; it has grown increasingly dark, much darker than it was before.

Though he had originally planned to venture out alone, Lissa had insisted on coming with him to scout. Chrom had felt that something was amiss when he woke up, though he was unaware of what it was.

"It sure is dark…" Lissa says, sounding slightly afraid. She moves closer to her brother, feeling safer as he put a protective arm around her. "And quiet… too quiet… where did all the birds go?"

"…Something is very wrong," Chrom says softly, then the ground tremors beneath them. The trees start shaking and falling, sending loud crashing sounds resonating through the woods. "Lissa, run."

"Wha… but, big brother!" Lissa begins to protest, but Chrom pushes her in the opposite direction to quiet her.

"I mean it. Go!" Chrom orders as Lissa takes off running. Chrom crouches there for a moment, but soon follows her just as the ground collapses beneath where he was standing. A wall of lava spouts from the earth and crashes down behind Chrom, setting several trees ablaze. "This way!" he calls to Lissa, pointing to a small ridge near a clearing. They jump over the ridge; fire rains from the sky and a flaming piece of rock crashes into the spot where Lissa stood seconds before.

They take a small rest in a clearing where Lissa kneels and catches her breath; Chrom, however, stays standing and constantly scanning. "Chrom, what is that?!" Lissa cries, pointing to the sky, where a large circle has appeared; it has the markings of the Zodiac on it, but then a horizontal line appears in the middle and opens up to form…

"An eye?" Chrom mutters; it's true, a blue eye formed in the middle of the circle.

But then two shapes emerge from the eye and fall to the ground. Chrom looks around the area that they fell and he sees two purple humanoids standing up; they look like zombies, with rotting teeth and their eyes are hollow. With every "breath" they take they exhale a black mist, and they roar at Chrom.

"Lissa… better stand back," he says, drawing Falchion, his sword. One of the monsters, carrying a large battle axe, runs at Chrom at a high speed and swings the axe. "Damn these things are fast," Chrom says; he holds up his sword and delivers a cut to the monster, in a place that would be fatal to a normal person.

However, the monster appears to be unfazed; in fact, it turns its head like an owl and lets out another roar. It swiftly turns and swings the axe, but Chrom blocks it with Falchion and parries the strike, slamming the hilt of his sword into the creature's stomach, knocking it aside. He raises the sword and jams it into the monster's back, causing it to give off a final spasm before releasing some more of the black mist and disappearing.

Lissa screams to the right and Chrom yells, "Lissa!"

Backed up against a tree, Lissa is close to being cleaved in two by another one of the monsters. She raises her Cleric staff in defense, but she knows it will do no good. She closes her eyes, waiting for the strike to come.

But it never does.

A clang of steel is heard, and Lissa opens her eyes, expecting to see Chrom shielding her with Falchion. But instead she sees a boy about her age with magenta hair much like her brother's.

He wears a black cloak as well as a black mask and a purple bodysuit and is blocking the axe, breathing heavily. He turns his head toward Chrom and yells, "Help!"

Chrom snaps out of the daze he was in and nods, "Right!" He rushes over, causing the zombie to turn its head in distraction, giving the boy enough time to elbow the monster and strike with his sword. Chrom finishes the creature with a quick slash through its side, causing it to crumble to dust.

"Quite an entrance," Chrom says, sheathing Falchion. "What's your name?"

"What's your name?"

"Milord! Milady! Are you hurt?" Frederick yells out; after probably 15 or 20 minutes of running, we've finally found Chrom and Lissa. He rushes to their sides and promptly checks both of them for wounds, but apparently finds none.

"Jordan! …Danny, Frederick." Lissa says, obviously less enthused about us two.

"Those things, they aren't common here are they?" I ask, gripping my sword.

"They aren't from Ylisse," Chrom assures, swatting away Frederick's arm as he attempts to check around Chrom's… lower regions… for wounds. "I'm fine, Frederick."

"Everyone's alright then?" Jordan asks, though I believe that by "everyone" he mostly means "Lissa".

"Thank the masked man who saved me!" Lissa says. "If it weren't for him, I'd be—hey, where'd he go?" She looks around for someone, although I see no one.

"We can worry about him later," Frederick says, drawing his lance and getting back on his horse—I've learned that his horse's name is Zuko, oddly enough. "AFTER we finish these things… constant vigilance, everyone. We know nothing about these enemies…"

Right at that one of those purple zombie-things appears out of the ground and attempts to force Frederick off his horse, but gets speared through the neck before it can even get close.

We move forward to get to a more open battlefield; it's still dotted with trees here and there, but it's more flat and significantly less ruined. "Frederick, are those...?" I begin, nodding to the abandoned fort-looking things.

"Abandoned forts? Yes," he replies, "perhaps we can use those to our advantage."

"They could give us some protection against projectiles, perhaps," I murmur, not knowing where the sudden tactician's train of thought is coming from. "Or possibly even have medicine left over if any of us are wounded."

"…That's pretty good thinking, Danny," Jordan says, eyeing me weirdly. "Where the hell did that come from?"

"I don't know," I say honestly, dropping my voice. "To be honest I'm actually kind of frightened. Ever since I got to this world I've been thinking about strategies and all that… I don't like it. I used to think about girls, dude!" I start shaking him for no reason. "Now I think about flanking maneuvers!"

"Why are you shaking me?" Jordan says, then I stop shaking him and shrug.

"No freaking clue."

"Incoming!" Frederick yells as I turn and see one of the monsters charging at me. I draw my sword to meet the monster's axe, but before I can it's struck in the chest by lightning and disintegrated.

"Jordan, that was my kill!" I protest, but then I notice he doesn't even have the Gameboy out.

"It wasn't me,"

"Then… where did it come from?" I wonder aloud, because Jordan is the only one here who uses lightning.

"Here's Johnny!" I hear a voice yell… my best friend's voice, to be exact. CJ comes bursting into the clearing running next to a mounted woman in silvery armour. She has red hair and paler skin, kind of like a female version of Mitch, except she's actually pretty.

Well, my best friend's here! CJ, 6 feet tall and a solid 110 pounds looks like he could almost be my twin, except, you know, I'm 180 pounds and I've got longer hair.

Oh, and I'm—according to the girls at school, not myself—hotter than CJ. I mean, why else would I be called the "Angel of Hotness"?

You've got to start using logic, my friends!

"Captain Chrom, I'm coming!" the red-haired woman yells. "Damn, I knew I shouldn't have left them… alright, you ash-faced freaks, which one of you wants to try my lance on for size?! I know the perfect place, shoved right up your—!"

Just then a man with long bluish hair runs into the clearing, breathing heavily. "Milady! Wait!"

"Oh great," the red-haired woman mutters.

"Life may be long, but attraction is fleeting!" the guy says; he's got a French accent and he appears to be the gentlemanly type, with a white and blue ruffled shirt and black pants. He certainly doesn't look like a warrior, although he carries a bow and a quiver of arrows. "Would you leave me in your sweet dust? Leave war to the warriors, dear bird! A beauty such as you need only to wage the war of love!"

"Who the hell are you?"

"Ha, is the lady intrigued? Of course, only natural. I am the myth and legend! I stride across history's grandest stage and put the 'arch' in 'archer'! My name, my dear, is—"

"Sorry, Ruffles," the woman says, spurring her horse into action. "No time!"

"Virion!" the man now called Virion says quickly. "My name is Virion! Wait! Might I at least know your name?"

"…Sully," the red-haired Sully says in a bored tone.

"'Sully'! How divine and beautiful!" Virion says in a flirty tone. "Tell me, dear Sully, will you marry me?"

I want to go join in the battle, but this—this is just too funny. It's like a train wreck, in the sense that I can't look away.

"Will I… oh, I get it, this is a joke!" Sully begins to fake-laugh. "What's the punch line? Me putting my boot up your arse?"

"I realize my manliness and nobility can be overwhelming, 'tis common! Please, don't feel pressured…"

"How's THIS for an answer?" Sully growls, jumping off her horse and kicking him in the crotch. He groans in pain and drops to his knees.

"Goodness, those shapely legs can kick, can't they," Virion says, his voice a little higher now. "Mine is a cold, empty world without you. I shall be your most willing servant, and you shall give my life purpose…"

Sully sighs and shakes her head. "Fine, just shut up, will ya?" She glares at him. "And stop staring at me like that!"

Forcing back a laugh, I run off toward the fighting. CJ's already there and he's blasting some of the zombies with his lightning. I cut a few of them down with my sword and we go back-to-back. "Good to see you, man," I say with a slight grin.

"The hell have you been?" he asks, blasting another monster.

"Long story, how 'bout you?" I reply, chopping down a few more. "And have you seen any of the others?"

"No, although I could've sworn I heard Jordan yelling about pancakes or something a while ago," he says, chuckling a little. "Anyway, I just woke up in the middle of a field, and Sully found me. She was on her way to find some guy named Chrom, and I figured I might as well go with her. By the way, do you know a guy named Chrom?"

"Yeah, he's the guy who found me and Jordan," I say, grinning. "Looks like we weren't going to stay separated for long… watch yourself!" I call out as a monster almost sinks his axe into CJ's side, but I promptly cut cleanly through its head with my bronze sword.

I'm currently unaware of where Chrom and Frederick are, but I see Lissa healing Jordan underneath a tree.

"What the hell happened to Jordan?" I ask CJ; I've got a feeling that Jordan might be getting injured just so Lissa can fawn over him, you know?

"No clue. My guess is he got cut," CJ shrugs, blowing a monster apart with a lightning blast. "Hey, are you getting the thought that Jordan likes the healer chick?"

"Yeah, definitely," I agree. "I wouldn't be surprised if he isn't getting injured on purpose."

"I know what you mean, man," CJ says.

As soon as we've dispatched most of the monsters in this area, we move forward looking for Chrom and Freddie. As soon as we begin to hear the clang of steel, I start running toward the sound.

I rush into a clearing and I see the grass covered with a black mist as a large zombie—much larger than the others—stands above Chrom and Frederick, absorbing the mist into its mouth, growing larger each second. After a few seconds it roars and swipes at Frederick and Zuko, knocking Zuko into a tree and tossing Frederick like a ragdoll.

While CJ goes to check on Zuko, I check on Frederick; he appears to be fine, but he winces a little when he moves. "I think I'm out of this fight," he mutters to me. "Just get Lissa to me, I'll be alright."

"CJ!" I call. "Get Freddie here to one of those abandoned forts. Check around for something to stop the blood," I tell him; Frederick is bleeding around the stomach area, though it isn't too bad.

CJ nods and helps Frederick to his feet and into a fort. After a few minutes he flashes me the thumbs-up, although I doubt he'll be returning to the battle.

"Looks like it's just you and me, Chrom," I say with a slight nod. I grip my blade a little tighter as Chrom gives me a slight grin. "Let's go."

We run around the zombie's legs for a moment, and while it's busy trying to swipe at us, we do our best to make cuts—not too deep but enough to hurt—around its ankles. After about 20 or so slashes, it falls to its knees and groans. I charge in to stab it into the gut, but by a lucky swing it catches me with one of its claws, throwing me into a tree like a ragdoll into the trash.

The impact knocks the wind out of me, and I do feel a sharp pain in my arm, but I'll be fine, definitely.

"No! Danny!" Chrom yells as I lay there bleeding. I roll over, despite the twinge in my arm, and watch as Chrom jumps into the air and jams his sword hilt-deep into the monster's face, right between the eyes.

"HEADSHOT!" I yell out, laughing a little, then cringing at the pain. "Dammit. Gotta watch out better…"

"You got that right," Jordan says, smirking at me. "And here I thought _I_ was accident prone."

"You just want to be with Lissa," I reply, whacking him in the shin with my fist as he stands over me. "Now get me to that abandoned fort or something, stupid." I wince as he pulls me to my feet and helps me over to the fort that CJ had Freddie in, and lays me down next to Frederick.

"Ah, so the monster took you down too?" Frederick asks. "What about Lord Chrom?"

I hear a loud THUD and the ground shakes a little. "I think he just killed it."

"It appears as if all the creatures have been vanquished, then," Frederick says with a nod. "This young man over their finished the leftovers." He sits up and points to the corner, where a man with magenta hair and a purple bodysuit stands; he also wears a black cape and mask.

Then Chrom and Lissa walk in and Lissa says, "Thank you… I never properly said that after you saved my life."

"You saved my sister's life… my name is Chrom, might I ask yours?" Chrom asks, smiling a little and offering his hand.

The boy appears to look over the hand but doesn't shake it. "…You may call me Marth," he says.

"Marth? The heroic king of old? Well, you fight like a hero. Where did you learn to use a sword like that?"

"I'm not here to talk about me," Marth says, turning around and moving toward the door. "The world teeters at the brink of a horrible calamity. What you saw tonight was merely the prelude… you have been warned." And he leaves the fort; Lissa moves to stop him, though he's already gone.

"Not much for conversation, is he?" I joke, smirking a little and sitting up.

"Apparently his skills lie elsewhere… I'm sure we'll be hearing his name again," Frederick says, standing up and wincing.

"Frederick, you shouldn't move too much!" Lissa protests. "Same to you, Danny. Your wounds are still healing…"

"We'll be fine," Frederick says, helping me up. Despite a little pain at first, after I move around a little I'm perfectly fine. "Can't keep two warriors down, eh?" he laughs a little.

"Er… yeah." I say, beginning to nod off. As soon as my eyes close, CJ flicks my nose and grins a little.

"Bad dog." CJ says, patting me on the head.

Sully and Virion walk into the fort and Sully pats CJ on the back. "Nice fighting, man!" she say, laughing a little.

"Sully, what're you doing here?" Chrom asks, surprised to see her. "And who're these two?"

"This is CJ, I found him in a field outside the barracks," she explains, "and then… this Virion guy, I really have no clue."

"CJ's from my world," I add in. "He's my best friend."

"I see," Chrom says. "Well, either way, we need all the help we can get… so will you two be joining us to Ylisstol?"

"Well, if that's where my bros are going, then that's where I'm going," CJ says in agreement, nodding to me. "So yup."

"I shall go where the fair maiden goes," Virion says, bowing. "For I am the one archer to rule them all, one archer to find them, one archer to bring them all and—"

I just slap him to stop him; this dude is SERIOUSLY annoying me.

"So… on our way, then?" I ask.

"Yes, let's go," Frederick says, walking out of the fort and mounting Zuko, who turns out to be just fine. Chrom, Sully and Virion follow him out, and Jordan, CJ and I follow. Lissa is the last one out, apparently she was taking some of the spare medical items in there.

And once more, we're back on our way to Ylisstol, through the forest still.

"Hey, Jordan, how long were we fighting?" CJ asks. "You were the one who was incapacitated most of the battle, so you should've kept time."

"I resent that!" Jordan protests. "But it was about two hours, I think. Probably not, though, the Jordan Corwin clock isn't exactly functioning properly at the moment."

"When has it ev—" I begin, but then I'm out again—yes, asleep.

**Fluffy: Well, how'd you all enjoy this chapter? I hope you did. Anyways, like I said before, can we get at least 5 good reviews for this epic chapter? **

**Remember… take care,**

**Canadian: Brush your hair,**

**Captain: I'll see ya when I see ya,**

**Butter Lord: Kill—**

**Don't even try it man.**

**Butter Lord: Sorry. Peace!**

**CJ: Also, how'd y'all like the theme song? Wrote that up all by myself!**


	4. Chapter 2: Get Back In My Truck!

**Hey everyone we're back with a new chapter of our Fire Emblem story! We left off last time with the first battle with the Risen, as well as another one of the guys showing up: CJ, Danny's best friend, who also happens to be based off of my real-life best friend and co-author, CJ! …Yeah, real creative name change there. Anyway, in this chapter, it—**

**Butter Lord: **_**Baka**_**! Don't spoil the chapter! *Gibbs-slap***

**Ouch… okay, anyways, we return to the story, where we find the main group on their way to Ylisstol!**

**Also, a quick side-note: The line-breaks in the last chapter didn't show up for some reason, and although we're assuming that you all can figure out where they were supposed to go, we're planning to insert them and reupload the chapter… also, it has come to our attention that Jerome was left out of the theme song… *narrows eyes at Fluffy***

**Fluffy: I'm sorreh buddy! I haven't figured out who Jerome's gonna end up with!**

***Facepalm* I thought we agreed that Jerome was gonna end up with—**

**Butter Lord: BUTTER!**

…**Again?**

**Butter Lord: Sorry.**

* * *

_CJ's POV_

Well, after several straight hours of walking—after the battle too, I should mention—we've finally reached the great city of Ylisstol.

In the early morning sunlight, the city shines with a silvery gleam; the magnificent palace stands out the most. From my conversations with Chrom, who I have discovered is the prince of the country, I've learned that the palace itself is made of some sort of mixture of silver, bronze and stone. It kind of looks like a combination of the Parthenon, St. Peter's Basilica, and the Hagia Sophia—some of the greatest feats of architecture in our world.

Yeah, I'm kind of a geek for architecture—don't judge, I find it pretty interesting. I've always had a love for it, ever since I was a toddler and playing with blocks, although typically Danny would accidentally knock down my towers and buildings… well, I think it was on accident.

"So this is Ylisstol?" Jordan asks, admiring our view from atop a hill. "Pretty cool."

The city actually kind of looks like a miniature Ba Sing Se, you know, from Avatar: The Last Airbender. It has a large outer wall made of a polished grey stone, with another inner wall made of… wood I believe. Not exactly strong, although with all the adornments on it I assume that it's become more of a decoration than a defense, possibly because no siege has ever broken through the walls of the city.

"Pretty cool?" I scoff. "Paris was pretty cool. Ba Sing Se was pretty cool. Ylisstol is freaking EPIC!" I shake my head. "Architects in our world would have trouble commissioning this place. Seriously."

Well, now I suppose I'll take some time to describe myself to you: For starters, I actually look quite a bit like Danny—long black hair, though not as long as his, and I have grey eyes and fair skin, much like him. We actually look quite a bit like Neji Hyuga, and if you saw us, you'd definitely think we were twins. Although I'm about one or two inches shorter than him—I'm about 5' 11", give or take a few inches. Most of my height is due to my long legs, which I use to my advantage during soccer season; I used to run track with Taylor, but I quit that so that I could joke about kicking people "in the balls" and tell the other team that they have no balls.

Yeah, I tell pretty stupid jokes.

But back to my looks; I have about as much muscle definition as Taylor—that is to say, not much at all; the little I have is mostly in my legs, but I've actually got a pretty strong punch.

I've been known to get into fights—especially at… or after, to be exact, my soccer games. I tend to piss people off with my jokes—actually I might as well call them what they often tend to be, insults. Anyway, I tend to piss the other team off with my insults and they try to kick my ass—they fail, a lot. I do usually have Danny to back me up, and as such we get into a lot of crap together.

A LOT of it… I remember one time he and I once got into a fight against the whole Jefferson High soccer team after I accidentally made some sort of stupid insult about their team captain's mother and they tried all ganging up on me behind their school's gym. Danny came to my aid—he actually told me that he was just back there to take a leak, which, knowing him, he probably was.

We got out of there with each of our eyes black, a sprained ankle for me, and a broken nose for Danny. But no matter what he had my back, even when he was just going to take a leak—I found out a couple weeks ago that he actually did need to pee, because, according to him anyway, he ended up peeing on the other team's unconscious leader.

The point is, he's my best friend and we have each other's backs. Always.

I suppose I should also add in how I wound up in this place; it all starts when I got woken up in a field by Sully…

(_Begin flashback_)

"Hey, wake up."

I feel something prodding me, and I shake my head and mutter something—probably something about video games or architecture—and open my eyes. There's a woman in silver armour sitting atop a horse, poking at me with the shaft of a spear. "…What?"

"You alright?" she asks, offering a hand and helping me to my feet. She's rather pretty, with curly red hair and fair skin, with a handful of freckles spread out across her face. She kinda looks like Mitch…

"Y-yeah," I say, nodding slightly. "Where am I?" I rub my eyes and yawn. "Last I remember we were playing at our town's Freedom Fest…"

"You're in Ylisse," the woman says, smiling a little. "And it's kind of obvious you're not playing at a Freedom Fest, whatever that is. Anyway, what's your name? I'm Sully."

Sully? …Like _Monsters, Inc._? "I'm CJ," I say, forcing back a smile. I've learned through my experiences never to insult someone's name—one time after a soccer game I nearly got my ass kicked by a guy named Shelby, although Danny got me outta that one. "So I'm in… Ylisse? Where exactly is that?"

"Well… Ylisse is a country that shares the continent with our neighbour Plegia. Where are you from?"

"Washington," I reply, trying to think about where these countries are. Can't figure out where.

"Where's that?" Sully asks, tilting her head.

Something's definitely wrong with this situation… "America," I say, "so I'm guessing we're nowhere near America."

"What's America?" Sully gives me a confused look.

…Well, Jimmy(1), I don't think we're in Kansas anymore. "Never mind…" I take a look at my surroundings: I'm in a field with lots of tall grass all over. It's dotted with hills here and there, but very little shade. Off in the distance I can see a city, but I'm not close enough to find any discernible features. "Where are you headed? Anywhere is better than this place."

"To the south," she says, pointing to the west.

"Sully? That's the west." I say, being the living compass that I am. I can already tell she's not good with directions.

"Really? Dammit, I've been headed the wrong way… maybe I can follow you then?"

"I don't know where you're going though," I say, smirking a little. "Although if I followed you I could point you in the right direction."

"No, no, that's a terrible idea," Sully says, shaking her head. "That would never work… oh! What if _you_ followed _me_?" (2)

"Works for me," I say, nodding despite the fact that she said literally the exact same thing. She starts riding toward the west again, and I smile a little and say, "Sully? That's still west."

I see her facepalm, and she sighs. "Alright. Which way's south?"

(_End flashback_)

So that brought us here, somehow picking up Virion along the way, and I'll admit, he's actually kind of fun to hang around with.

Well, mess with anyway.

Anyway, as we sit on the hill for a little bit, a merchant passes nearby on the road. "It's about time we're home, Chrom," Lissa says, laughing loudly after Jordan tells her a joke. I've noticed that Jordan appears to have some sort of feelings toward her—and that she apparently feels the same way. Anyone could see that.

"It's been far too long, Lissa," Chrom agrees, grinning.

I roll my eyes when Jordan tells her another joke, making her fall over laughing, holding her sides. "Yeah, you're right Danny… they definitely like each other." I expect a response, but when none comes I look around, trying to find my best friend who I thought was right next to me. "Hey, where's Danny?" I say, louder this time.

"Wasn't he just with us?" Jordan says, turning slightly away from Lissa. "I thought he was right next to you, CJ."

"So did I," I reply, "but apparently he isn't."

"So where'd he go then?" Sully asks, drinking some of the leftover Muscatine juice from last night. "Wait, did you guys hear that?"

We sit in silence for a moment, Virion still having offered nothing in the way of help, and then I hear… snoring.

It's coming from behind a medium-sized tree; I walk over and… "Dammit Danny!" I yell, Gibbs-smacking my best friend on the back of the head, waking him up.

"Wha?" He mutters, standing up. Damn his narcolepsy. "What'd I do? There was such a pleasant breeze going… I sat down in the shade and I guess I just passed out…"

* * *

Theme Song – Sign by FLOW

(**I realize the screaming pain, hearing loud in my brain, but I'm going straight ahead with the scar…**) We see Danny and his band up onstage as they were in the first prologue, playing their instruments. One by one, starting with CJ, they begin to clutch their heads and fall, finally stopping at Danny, who, before going unconscious, looks up and sees Validar sneering at him. Then Danny wakes up with the strange mark on his hand.

(**Instrumentals, "Can you hear me" repeats in the background**) Beginning with Jordan and Danny, they begin to wake up in their areas—Jordan and Danny in Ylisse, Mitch and Jerome in Regna Ferox, Taylor in Plegia, Adam in Valm, and CJ outside of Ylisstol, near the Shepherd's barracks. They look around and call out for each other, but, except in Taylor's case, get mostly no response—Taylor gets the brigands and their wardogs chasing after him, to which he runs away in a comedic way.

(**Wasurete shimaeba iiyo, kanjinakunacchaeba ii, surimuita kokoro no futa shitanda**) We see the group beginning to show up on separate slides like in a slide show, beginning with Danny; each "slide" is a different colour; Danny's is blue, CJ's is orange, Jordan's is purple, Mitch's is red, Jerome's is green, and Adam's is gold. They each carry special weapons: Danny has his bronze short sword, and he presses a button on it, transforming it into a six foot long battle-staff with blades coming out of each end; CJ has a golden tome and is shooting thunderbolts out at us; Jordan has his Gameboy, and when he powers it up, a Pikachu jumps out of the screen as he shows it to the audience, and gives off its signature "Pika!"; Mitch has a silvery-coloured bow and shoots several arrows simultaneously. Jerome has his little axe, which he throws into the air and it becomes a double-sided battle axe; finally, Adam has a seven foot "Killer Lance" with a golden blade—his "Butter Lance" as he will refer to it. Finally, they come together in panels—much like in the Bakugan intro—and the screen shatters to read "Fire Emblem: Kyodai no Kizuna" in bright gold letters, standing out against a black background.

(**Kizutsuitatte heiki dayo mou itami wa nai kare ne, sono ashi wo hikizuri nagara mo**) The group is placed in the middle of a large band of Risen, who immediately charge the boys. There's a large flash and a lightning bolt, and we hear "PIKA!" as the Risen that are closest to the group quickly disintegrate. Another large flash, and then most of the Shepherds, particularly Chrom, Lissa, Frederick, Stahl, Sumia, Vaike, and Kellam, appear standing around the guys as they begin to help them push back the Risen. Another flash, and then everyone except for Danny is gone, and Validar suddenly appears in front of Danny. Danny raises his battle-staff, while Validar raises a black tome.

(**Miushinatta, jibun jishin ga, oto wo tatete kuzureteitta, kizukeba, kaze no oto dake ga**) Danny uses his battle-staff to conjure lightning bolts, which he hurls at Validar, who dodges each bolt. Validar uses his tome to summon several Risen who surge toward Danny, but get cut up in the attempt. Validar conjures a pretty much lightsaber of dark energy and runs at Danny; Danny also runs at Validar and they begin to strike at each other with their weapons. A large flash occurs and the scene shatters.

(**Tsutaeni kitayo, kizuato tadotte, sekai ni oshitsubusarete simau mae ni**) The scene reassembles and we see the boys as just their group standing in a circle. Then as the song goes on we see the Shepherds assembling around them as they all raise their hands and give out an audible cry of "_Shori_!"

(**Oboeteru kana? Namida no sora wo, ano itami ga kimi no kotow o mamottekureta**) Then we see the Shepherds in the midst of battle, fighting the Valmese fleet; we see Danny is the last person on the boat aimed toward the general's boat, and as he throws down a fireball, at the last minute Cordelia swoops in and pulls him off the ship as it bursts into flames and crashes into the general's flagship. They share a smile as the scene changes to Taylor and Cherche riding on wyverns as they drop stones on the Plegian castle, and within seconds the walls begin to explode, giving an entrance for Chrom and Danny. Then we zoom in to see Jordan wounded in the courtyard while Lissa works on healing him; after a few seconds she leans down and begins to press her lips to his, but before that happens the scene quickly switches to Mitch riding behind Sully on a horse, as she spears Risen and Mitch shoots Plegian dark mages. We pan to the right and see Jerome fighting a group of Brigands with his axe alongside Flavia; as they finish off the Brigands they share a smile. Then CJ is seen, protecting Emmeryn from an onslaught of Brigands with his lightning-shooting tome. Lastly we see Adam, running alongside a dragon, plowing into a horde of Plegian knights with his "Butter Lance" and the dragon spews flames, and after the knights are burnt to cinders or slain by the lance, the dragon turns into Tiki, and Adam sets down his lance and stands beside her, putting his arm around her; she smiles and moves in to kiss him.

(**Sono itami ga itsumo kimi wo mamotterunda**) We see Chrom and Danny confronting Grima in the final fight, and as Danny and Grima battle, the scene begins to darken and all of Danny's friends are seen gathering around him and before he can strike the final blow, Chrom sweeps in with his Falchion and kills Grima.

(**Instrumental, "Can you hear me"**) As Grima falls and is sealed away, we see parties happening throughout Ylisse and Ferox, and we stop in Ylisstol as we see a rather large procession going through the streets, with all the citizens cheering as the Shepherds walk through the main street and up to the palace.

(**So am I…**) Chrom turns and raises his right hand to the people, balled up in a fist as he declares, "_Shori_!" We then zoom out to a sunset, overlooking a cliff; we see two people sitting on the bluff, staring at the sunset, and we zoom in to find that it is in fact Danny and Cordelia. Before the screen fades to black, their lips meet.

* * *

Well, after waking Danny up and getting back to the group, we resume our journey into Ylisstol. I make sure that Danny is a few steps ahead of me at all times while watching, so I can Gibbs-slap him if he starts to fall asleep. We pass through the gates of the city as the guards bow to Chrom, and we step onto the main road. Along the street, several shops are scattered, including an open-air blacksmith shop with a man hammering a hot sword, a tavern, and a cathedral that actually looks a lot like the Taj Mahal.

Suddenly we hear cheering from all around, and an old man yells out, "The exalt! She has come to see us!"

I look toward the palace and see a very beautiful woman with long curly blonde hair walking down the street. She wears a long yellow robe and smiles brightly, waving to the people.

She's the most beautiful woman I've ever seen.

"Emmeryn!" Lissa calls, smiling and waving toward her older sister.

"The exalt is your ruler, isn't she?" Jordan asks Chrom, who nods.

"She's also our sister," Chrom says, smiling a little.

"So… that would make you guys…" I begin.

"The prince and princess? Yes," Frederick says, smiling proudly.

"That's pretty cool," I say with a grin, and I make a mental note to tease Jordan about being in love with a princess. "So, Freddie, that's why you tolerate their constant jokes and teasing?"

"Don't call me Freddie," he warns, "and yes… the things I do for the sake of the country," he adds in a voice reminiscent of _Courage the Cowardly Dog_, shaking his head.

"*Cough*_ Courage_! *Cough*" Jordan says in the cough-talk, causing me to laugh, which I attempt to cover up as a cough.

It doesn't work.

"What's so funny?" Sully asks, tilting her head. Danny smirks at me and mouths, "You got caught!"

"N-nothing. B-bad cough," I say, adding in a few more coughs for added effect; she still looks skeptical, but waves it off.

"There's so many people here…" Jordan says, looking around. "I haven't seen so many people since we went to Vancouver with Mitch that one time… freaking epic."

"Don't mention Vancouver," I say, shaking my head—we got roofie'd by Jordan on accident and had to track Danny and Jerome through the city. Don't ask… seriously. "Ever again."

"What's Vancouver?" Lissa asks Jordan, yawning a little.

"Vancouver's a city up in Canada, it's our friend Mitch's hometown," Jordan explains. "You see one time, we went there on vacation and—"

But I break in before he can finish. "NO!" I Gibbs-slap Jordan. "Seriously! Do you want to bring back the flashbacks?"

"Good point," Jordan says, shuddering. "Forgot. Sorry."

Yeah, I have flashbacks whenever people mention Vancouver… particularly a certain club where we almost got mugged by Ron Weasley… and no, I'm not joking.

Danny mutters "Rotten gingers…" or something like that—he tends not to like gingers except for Mitch… although he and Sully seem to be getting along just fine.

"Is it, you know… safe for the Exalt to be roaming with the common people?" Danny blurts out.

"Safe?" Chrom laughs a little. "It's more than safe. She's a symbol of peace, which is Ylisse's most prized quality. Long ago, at the dawn of our age, the fell dragon tried to destroy the world. But the first exalt joined forces with the divine dragon and laid the beast low. Exalt Emmeryn reminds us all of the peace we fought for then... which is especially needed right now, with Plegia poking at our borders."

"But it appears as if the Exalt is returning to the palace," Frederick says, nodding a little.

"Would you guys like to meet her?" Lissa asks, aimed more toward Jordan than us.

"Sure," Jordan says quickly, nodding vigorously.

"Great! Let's go!" Lissa says, smiling and taking off. Frederick yells something and goes after her; Chrom smiles and tells us, "Last one there is a Plegian!"

He's off before we can respond; I look at Jordan and smirk. "You've known her what, two days and she already wants you to meet the family? If it keeps going like this, you're gonna be…" I make a whip-cracking sound, "within a week!"

"You guys are the worst friends ever…" Jordan says, shooting us a glare.

"Nah dog," Danny says, laughing and putting Jordan in a headlock. "We're just lookin' out for you, biggums!" He gives Jordan a noogie and releases him.

Jordan rubs his head. "You know, one of these days you guys are gonna be coming to _me_ for romantic advice."

"Yeah, like 'Uh… hi,' is the most romantic first thing you can say to a girl," Danny says with a smirk. "Besides, I'm _me_. I don't need romantic advice, I _AM_ romantic advice."

"Yeah, let's hear you say that if you ever fall in love," I say, snickering and taking Jordan's side temporarily.

"But biggums… Business-Bacca don't fall in love," Danny says in a voice that sounds a lot like Jerome's. "Nor does he give a shit."

"He's gonna be alone for ever, isn't he?" Jordan asks me, giving me a grin.

I shake my head. "He's not gonna be alone forever… but do you have any idea how weirded out he's gonna be when he finally falls in love?

"Probably," I nod, smirking.

"HEY! YOU GUYS COMING?" Chrom's voice yells out to us from… the palace stairs?! How the hell did they get there so fast… or have we really been talking that long?

"Let's go," I say, nudging Jordan and Danny, who are arguing about something. We take off running toward the palace.

* * *

_Taylor's POV_

So after my much dreaded flight to Rosanne, Cherche finally landed the wyvern next to a large castle. It looked like one of those castles I'd see in one of CJ's architecture books; it is made of a dark gray stone and has a large central building with high glass windows and seven tall towers surrounding the building, each with several windows that are at least ten feet tall. A stone wall encloses the green lawn. Several benches are scattered around a central plaza area that is made of cobblestone and has a large fountain in the middle of it.

"Wow… this place is beautiful," I say in awe. "We don't have places like this in my world…"

Cherche smiles a little, removing her helmet. She has long pink hair—I never noticed that before. "This is castle Virion," Cherche explains, flipping her long hair over her shoulder. "You see, Rosanne, unlike most countries on our continent, Rosanne is ruled by a Duke; we are a rather small country—too small to have, say, a king or queen. We are ruled by the family Virion, who all tend to share the common trait of…" she appears to be pondering the correct word.

Just then two people, each with long blue hair, wearing black pants and black boots with similarly coloured white-ruffled shirts. They seem to be talking with a slight French accent, and I manage to catch a snippet of their conversation: "Aren't we so beautiful?"

I almost double over laughing; I complete Cherche's sentence for her: "Vanity?"

She nods quickly, giggling slightly. "Yes, that's it… although that's a bit kinder than most people would put it."

"So, what exactly _is_ Rosanne?" I ask, examining the area.

"Well, Rosanne is a rather small country," Cherche explains. "We are situated on the eastern coast of the continent of Valm… we have a booming fishing industry, due to the luck of being situated on the coast. We mainly consist of port cities and smaller villages toward the inner country. We have several forests and valleys, as well as a rather large population of wyverns, much like my cute little Minerva."

"Are there… squids around the area?" I ask, passing it off as an innocent question. I have a feeling that if there are squids around, Adam will probably be killing them.

After 14 years I have no clue why he hates squids so much, but it is pretty freaking funny.

"Yes, our port cities toward the north tend to have outbreaks of squids," Cherche says, tilting her head. "Why do you want to know?"

"Well, my friend Adam… he has a certain hatred for squids," I explain. "I assumed that if he were in this world, he'd be attempting to find and eradicate any and all squids he could, much like he did back in our world. We'd go out on his father's boat and laugh as he tried to spear squids if they strayed close enough to the surface."

"Why does he hate squids so much?" Cherche questions, more confused than before.

I shrug and give the best reply I can: "No clue. Which way is it to the port cities?" I add, planning to go and attempt to find Adam—if, you know, he's here.

"I-I could fly you there!" Cherche says rather quickly, quicker than I'd expect a pretty girl to answer. "…I-if you want to, that is." She looks down quickly, blushing bright red.

Why's she blushing…? "Alright, I suppose that could work," I say. "Thank you."

"No trouble," she says, smiling. The blush hasn't left her face.

* * *

_Danny's POV, Ylisstol_

"Hey, CJ?" I ask my best friend as we walk casually through the streets of Ylisstol. "Where do you think Taylor is?"

"What makes you assume he's even here?" CJ responds, glancing at me.

"Well, if you, me and Jordan are here, wouldn't it make some sort of sense that Mitch, Jerome, Adam and him are here? I mean, I did see them collapse at the concert, too," I mention, yawning a bit. "Damn, I'm tired…"

"That does make some sense," CJ says, nodding rapidly, causing his Neji-hair to whip around. "But I have no clue… my guess is that he's either somewhere on this continent or across the sea…"

"Well, you know something? Wherever he is, he ain't getting any." I say with a slight grin. CJ laughs at that.

* * *

_Taylor's POV_

As Cherche and I have mounted Minerva and are flying toward the nearest port city, I suddenly sneeze.

"Bless you," she says. I thank her and then she asks, "Why'd you just sneeze? Are you coming down with something?"

"No, I think someone was talking about me," I say, remembering the Japanese superstition and smirking a little. My guess is that it was Danny making a friendly insult about me—he tends to do that a lot.

"Eh?" she asks.

"Never mind," I say, "just keep flying."

After about ten minutes of flight, we land at a small, bustling port city. "This is where you should start your search," Cherche says, "this city is rather small compared to the others; it shouldn't be hard to find your friend if he is here. People tend to stand out here more-so than other places." She offers me a smile. "I wish you luck, Taylor…"

"Thank you, Cherche," I say; though my studies on the Middle Ages—I'm assuming that this place is essentially that, just by the way people dress as well as their mannerisms and speech—are less satisfactory than I would rather say, I believe that I know the correct way to act in this moment. I kneel on one knee and take her hand. "You have done so much for me, I owe you so much."

"A-are you asking me…" she begins, but she is silenced when I kiss her hand. The blush that had settled on her face previously left while we were flying, but has reappeared.

"Thank you, Cherche. I hope to see you again someday." I say, rising to my feet. I turn and begin to walk into the city's gates.

I hear her gasp and then she yells, "W-wait! Taylor!"

I turn back around and face her. "Yes?" I ask.

That's when I notice that she's in rather close proximity to me. Her mostly sarcastic exterior has melted for the most part, and her blush is brighter than before. I can hear her pace of breathing quicken and see the look in her eyes… what? I don't know what the look is, what do you think I am, a mind-reader or something? That's completely illogical… well, so is practically everything else in this world. I can smell her perfume: "Apples and… bananas?" I say.

"W-what?" Cherche stutters; I haven't realized until now, but she's almost as tall as me.

"Your perfume. It's apples and bananas, correct?"

"Y-yes…"

"What is it you wanted?" I ask, glancing around; no sign of Adam, although there is a rather large crowd gathering down the main street.

"I-I was wondering if you needed my aid in anything," she stammers, looking somewhat embarrassed.

"Well, I suppose I could use a companion," I say with a small smile. "It is rather tedious without someone to converse with. Would you do me the honour of travelling with me? For now, at least?"

"YES!" Cherche practically screams, in the manner one would if they were, say, being proposed to. She jumps up and hugs me, but quickly releases me and clears her throat. "I mean… yes, I would like to travel with you."

"Excellent," I say, turning back around. I'm not particularly sure, but I believe that I hear her let out a little squeaky-noise and say, "YES!"

But it's just a thought. Anyway, I walk through the gates of the city and onto the main street; it's a busy street with a cobblestone road. Several houses and shops are lined along it, mostly of the same colour of dark wood, distinguishable only by the signs that hang over the shops. I'll admit, it's somewhat run-down, but it's better than some main streets I've seen back in the U.S.

At least, more prosperous for sure.

So Cherche and I walk down to the end of the street, where a large crowd has gathered, causing a symphony of cheers and jeers. "What is going on here?" I ask a random villager. He has red hair and wears a plain brown robe—well, "robe" as in the kind you'd expect wizards to wear.

"Look for yourself," he says, moving out of the way. I thank him and look at what people are fawning over.

A youth—probably 17 years old or so—with shaggy brown hair and a slight beard growing is swinging a long silvery club at a… golf ball? The teenager wears a black _Superman _t-shirt with the famous "S" in the pattern of digital camo as well as a pair of camouflage jeans in the colour scheme of dark greys and blues. He also wears a pair of black DC skater shoes with a neon green DC logo, as well as green shoe laces.

Holy Ed Sheeran, it's Adam!

Adam goes to swing his golf club at the golf ball in a _Happy Gilmore_—esque manner and I yell out above the din of the crowd, "JACKASS!"

He accidentally throws the club into the side of a building, and the crowd laughs at him and begins to disperse. I smirk and push my way through, walking up to him. "Wassup, ya jackass?"

You may be wondering where my whole smart guy demeanor went. Well, it's my belief that… how did Jim Downey put it… ah, yes, "Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it."

In other words, despite not being dumb, he pretty much sucks the smartness out of everyone else.

"You suck," Adam groans as we do the bro-hug: Move in for a high 5 and slap each other on the back. "I was starting to think I was the only one here. Where have you been, man?"

"I dunno, man, I woke up in a hole filled with shit—literally—and met Cherche here," I say, nodding to my new companion. She offers him a smile but no other sign of acknowledgement. "We flew to Castle Virion, and then out here. Where the hell have _you_ been?"

"Here, the entire time," he says with a slight smirk. "Guess what I found in my knapsack that somehow appeared on my body?" He pulls out a small golden knife… aw, damn, please tell me it's not gonna be a butter rant… no, wait, he presses a button and… it extends into a lance. "I got a butter lance!"

"…Butter? But that looks like gold to me…" Cherche protests.

"NO! IT IS BUTTER!" Adam yells, brandishing his lance.

"…Here we go again," I mutter.

* * *

**Well, I suppose that wouldn't be a bad place to end this chapter. I mean, after all this is planned to be the part 1 for another chapter. **

**Captain: …Weren't we supposed to keep that a secret?**

**Fluffy: Shut up, you're just a captain!**

**Captain: You're just a fluffy.**

**Fluffy: …Well played, asshat. **

**Anyway, we hope you all enjoyed this chapter. As always, if you liked it, follow/favourite/review, and remember,**

**Taylor: Take care,**

**Canadian: Brush yo hair,**

**Butter Lord: KILL EVERY—**

**Don't even start it, man…**

**Butter Lord: Sorry… anyway, we'll see ya when we see ya.**

**All: PEACE!**

* * *

**References from this chapter:**

**Jimmy: Ever watch "Dwarves vs Zombies"? It's probably the greatest Minecraft modification since Survival Games; you really should check it out, PauseUnpause does it, so does the creator; his YouTube name is BruceWillakers, and his term for anyone who has not earned his respect is "Jimmy".**

**What if **_**you**_** followed **_**me**_**?: That is a reference to a **_**Spongebob**_** episode where Barnacle Boy switches over to the bad guys and Mermaid Man needs everyone's help to stop them. They offer their help in the form of "What if we help you?" to which MM responds, "No, no, no, that would never work… but what if **_**you**_** helped **_**me**_**?"**

***Suddenly a pickup truck crashes through the wall, and Danny and CJ are driving. Jordan and Taylor are sitting in chairs in the truck bed***

**Danny: Hey, hey I got two people in the back of my pickup! You wanna join them?**

**Jordan & Taylor: *Various cries for help***

**Taylor: Help! I have whiplash!**

**Jordan: Shut up, you're gonna be fine!**

**Danny: Would you guys like to be captured?**

**CJ: Never mind their screams…**

***Suddenly Jordan falls out of the truck bed; Danny gets out***

**Danny: Get back in my truck, dammit! Get back in my truck!**

**You get 1,000,000 awesome points if you know where this is from… also you may or may not gain the chance to work on a Sword Art Online story with us.**

**Captain: Uh, Chase? I think that was where this was supposed to end…**

**Says the person who's continuing it with an argument.**

**Captain: I'm not arguing…**

**Danny: BOTH OF YOU GET IN MY TRUCK, DAMMIT!**

**Captain & I: Y-yes sir. *Both of us spawn in chairs and climb into the truck bed***

**HELP US! Save us from Danny!**

**Danny: SHUT UP! Hey, now I've got four people in the back of my pickup! *Looks at CJ* You wanna join them?**

**CJ: *Looks directly at you guys* …Help me.**


End file.
